Update: 1:05 PM ET 

SMART-1 has entered its final projected orbit around the Moon. The correction maneuver of September 1 means the spacecraft will impact the lunar surface now at around 01:43 a.m. Eastern Time.
Earlier, Pascale Ehrenfreund of the Leiden University, The Netherlands, reported that SMART-1 has passed its perilune and is on its last orbit, with nominal impact of the Moon’s surface Sunday morning at 1:42 a.m. ET. He has passed along the word to a network of ground observers preparing to monitor the controlled crash event.
 
“Thanks to all of you and good luck,” Ehrenfreund said.

Earlier, the European Space Agency (ESA) revised its impact prediction for the SMART-1 controlled crash onto the Moon.

Ground controllers maneuvered the orbiting lunar probe, raising its “perilune” — the point in the orbit of SMART-1 when it is closest to the Moon’s surface – by some 1,969 feet (600 meters). This was done to maximize the chance of hitting the Moon within the desired target area: a spot within the Moon’s southern hemisphere called the Lake of Excellence.

At present, the favored forecast is that SMART-1 spacecraft will impact the Moon’s surface Sunday morning at 1:42:20 a.m. ET.

ESA ground controllers worked around a SMART-1 problem when the spacecraft went into safe mode. An intense, six-hour recovery period was successful, pulling the spacecraft out of its unexpected safe mode status.

Meanwhile, a host of participating observatories around the globe are in wait and watch mode, all set to help ESA monitor the impact of SMART-1 on the Moon. Facilities in Australia, South America, Europe, Africa, South America, as well as in the United States are preparing to observe the controlled crash of the spacecraft.

Also ready to watch the smashing end of SMART-1 is the Swedish scientific satellite, Odin, launched back in February 2001.

For more information, check out:

http://space.com/scienceastronomy/060831_smart-1_crash.html