PARIS, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- The SMART-1 orbiter of the European Space Agency, a probe launched aboard an Ariane-5 rocket in September 2003, on Sunday crashed into the moon's surface.

SMART-1, which had been circling the moon since November 2004, ended its three-year voyage at 0542 GMT on Sunday by crashing into moon's surface near the Lake of Excellence, an area of volcanic origin in the mid-southern latitudes.

SMART-1 is the first in an intended series of European missions to test innovative ideas in space engineering. The name is an acronym for Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology.

The probe was launched into Earth orbit using an Ariane-5 rocket from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guinea, on Sept. 27, 2003.

The probe's instruments have gathered information that could increase scientists' understanding of how the moon's surface evolved and help test a theory that the moon originated when another astronomical body slammed into the Earth. Enditem