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Chandrayaan-1 Successfully Reaches 100km Lunar Orbit
Posted by
timothy
on Wed Nov 12, 2008 01:28 PM
from the what-hath-man-wrought dept.
from the what-hath-man-wrought dept.
Matt_dk writes "Today, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft has successfully reached its intended operational orbit at a height of about 100 km from the lunar surface. This followed a series of three orbit reduction manoeuvres conducted during the past three days by repeatedly firing the spacecraft's 440 Newton Liquid Engine.
The next major event of Chandrayaan-1 mission planned in the coming days is the release of Moon Impact Probe (MIP) from the spacecraft and its eventual hitting of the moon's surface."
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Indian Moon Mission Launched 305 comments
hackerdownunder writes "India's maiden lunar mission (Chandrayaan-1) got off to a flying start today. Describing the launch as 'perfect and precise,' the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), G Madhavan Nair, said that it would be 14 days before the satellite would enter into lunar orbit.
Chandrayaan carries eleven payloads: five designed and developed in India, three from the European Space Agency, one from Bulgaria and two from NASA."
[+]
Chandrayaan Enters Lunar Orbit 111 comments
William Robinson writes "After an 18-day journey, Chandrayaan-1, the moon mission of India, has entered Lunar orbit. The maneuver was described as crucial and critical by scientists, who pointed out that at least 30 per cent of similar moon missions had failed at this juncture, resulting in spacecraft lost to outer space. The lunar orbit insertion placed Chandrayaan-1 in an elliptical orbit with its nearest point 400 to 500 kilometers away from the moon, and the farthest, 7,500 kilometers. By November 15, the spacecraft is expected to be orbiting the moon at a distance of 100 kilometers and sending back data and images (the camera was tested with shots looking back at Earth). The Chandrayaan-1 is also scheduled to send a probe to the moon's surface."
[+]
India's Chandrayaan Lands Impact Probe On the Moon 203 comments
yaksha writes to tell us that the Indian Space probe, Chandrayaan, has become only the fourth nation to land a probe on the Moon. The 35-kg Moon Impact Probe touched down in what officials are describing as a "perfect operation." "Developed by ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre of Thiruvananthapuram, the primary objective of MIP is to demonstrate the technologies required for landing a probe at the desired location on the moon. The probe will help qualify some of the technologies related to future soft landing missions. This apart, scientific exploration of the moon at close distance is also intended using MIP."
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Great. (Score:5, Funny)
And I JUST GOT CABLE!
Re:Great. (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
That's no moon!
Re: (Score:2)
Now the moon is going to fall out of the sky. And I JUST GOT CABLE!
Meh direct TV is better.
Is that an I J or K motor? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Is that an I J or K motor? (Score:5, Interesting)
--
The above comments are the opinions of a non-qualified amateur rocketry fan. Please take with ~ 2.7 ounces of salt.
Parent
Global cooperation (Score:5, Funny)
So when America returns to the moon, they can look forward to a variety of tasty lunar takeout joints already established by the Indians and Chinese. The resulting outbreaks of explosive diarrhea can be put to good use in terraforming the moon.
Lucky the Americans didn't set up base permanently (Score:3, Funny)
Mind you it's lucky the Americans haven't set up base permanently, otherwise none of the astronauts who visited would be able to get back into their spaceships and come back. They'd all be too obese to fit through the hatches of their lunar modules from eating the high quality cuisine the USA has given the world, supersized burgers and fries washed down with gallon buckets of coca-cola... ;-)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
...and right after America buys up all these diarrhea-inducing restaurants and places NDA's on their previous owners, just so they can claim that they "invented" it first and sue anyone who comes down with diarrhea afterwards?
Sounds about right.
Re: (Score:2)
Right on. You know what? Why don't you just keep on laughing at these foreigners with their funny names and funny foods and your stereotype clichés. By the time Uncle Sam gets back to the moon, most people will be cracking jokes about McDonalds on the moon and astronauts making footprints in their cowboy boots. Or maybe they're more mature and don't have the same racist instincts.
new plot (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
ha..ha..ha... now that is funny!!!
apollo lander module? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:apollo lander module? (Score:5, Informative)
So, I know this is a recurring joke around here on Slashdot ... but you can actually demonstrate this fact by using the Lunar Laser Ranging [wikipedia.org] thingy they installed.
That is, if you're willing to take the time to educate yourself on the hard science behind this.
Cheers
Parent
Re:apollo lander module? (Score:5, Informative)
The MythBusters (yeah, yeah) demonstrated this on their Moon Hoax show. It was the last thing they did.
They went to an observatory and had the person show that pointing the laser away from the moon produced no return signal whereas when they pointed the laser at a specific spot on the moon, they did get a signal.
Parent
That's just the Martians (Score:3, Funny)
They went to an observatory and had the person show that pointing the laser away from the moon produced no return signal whereas when they pointed the laser at a specific spot on the moon, they did get a signal.
Pfff. That's just the Martians they paid to sit on the moon and respond to lasers.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Bouncing a beam off of the lunar laser ranger demonstrates only that we (or more likely the underlings working for the alien overlords known as the Illuminati) planted the device on the moon. It does not prove that it was placed there during the supposed "Apollo" mission nor does it prove that man has ever escaped Earth's orbit or that the moon is in fact real rather than a sophisticated projection on the outside of our fishbowl. There's actually a documentary [wikipedia.org] where OJ Simpson demonstrates how a similar h
Re: (Score:2)
Every dollar that the US Space Program has spent was done so on EARTH... you bastard! NASA isn't perfect but it's not like they fill up the space shuttle with cash and launch it into space. All the money is spent on Earth and most of it goes into the pockets of American citizens.
Re: (Score:2)
All the money is spent on Earth and most of it goes into the pockets of American citizens.
And all of it came from the pockets of American citizens too.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Now, I dislike the Moon landi
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Since unmanned Soviet landers had similar laser ranging thingies, that hardly proves that men have landed on the moon.
Re:apollo lander module? (Score:5, Insightful)
The Terrain Mapping Camera on board has a 5m resolution so even something as big as the LEM descent unit or the lunar rovers will only be 1 pixel in size.
Not enough to shut the hoaxers up. (Not that anything short of dumping them on the lunar surface will)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
With no helmet.
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That is enough to show surface disturbance (Score:2)
Just what we needed in this financial crisis! (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
"Your call is important to us" *music*
NASA: For the Benefit of All...
[and the music goes on...]
Except the ones who are dead.
But there's no sense crying
over every mistake.
You just keep on trying
till you run out of cake.
Re:Just what we needed in this financial crisis! (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Just what we needed in this financial crisis! (Score:4, Interesting)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The Chandrayaan mission cost India USD 87 million which is just a shade over the cost of a Boeing 737-900ER aircraft (USD 85 million).
That is actually less than half of what the chinese spent (USD 180+ million).
So yes, there is some truth to the fact that this is indeed a very low cost mission.
Indian Flag on moon (Score:5, Informative)
India will drop its flag on the moon to establish its presence, Nair said in an interview. This will make India the fourth country after the US, Russia, and Japan to have its flag on the moon.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/India_will_plant_flag_on_the_moon_ISRO_chief/articleshow/3620255.cms [indiatimes.com]
With today's (on 8th Nov) successful manoeuvre, India becomes the fifth country to send a spacecraft to Moon. The other countries, which have sent spacecraft to Moon, are the United States, former Soviet Union, Japan and China. Besides, the European Space Agency (ESA), a consortium of 17 countries, has also sent a spacecraft to moon.
Source: http://www.hindu.com/nic/0061/release11.htm [hindu.com]
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Wait so they are just going to drop their flag on the moon?
That is just incredibly disingenuous, planting a flag has always meant that a human has set foot on the land.
Also Russia and Japan are lame for that as well.
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Re:Indian Flag on moon (Score:4, Informative)
"With today's (on 8th Nov) successful manoeuvre, "
HA! Fail! Did you see how he spelled "maneuver"?
manoeuvre is the way it was spelt in English..
you're spelling in American ... which is an evolving flavor (flavour) of English...
Parent
"Its eventual hitting of the moon's surface"? (Score:3, Funny)
Are you looking for the phrase "impact on"? Maybe "collision with"? Or even "hit on"? There are a plethora of choices... [reference.com]
Re:Correct pronunciation? (Score:5, Informative)
andra as in tundra (except 'r' pronounced like the spanish 'r')
yaan - the long vowel is pronounced like the 'a' in bar (or, even better, like the scandinavian first name "jan")
The stress is on the last syllable - chandrayAn
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
If still confused, refer to YouTube [youtube.com] (about 7 seconds into the clip, or 25 seconds if you prefer a woman's voice).
Re: (Score:2)
This video (which is in english, so who knows if it is right) pronounces it something like this:
Chan - 'an' as in 'wand'
dra - 'dra' as in 'drain', but the 'r' sounds like a soft d
yan - 'yan' as 'yawn', but without the 'w' and perhaps held a little longer.
Again, this is based on an British-English speaking video I found, but it sounds like he makes an attempt to pronounce it outside of his own language. Maybe someone who actually speaks t
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
We conspiritards aren't stoopid, we know such pictures can be easily faked.
Now if you want to see some REAL evidence, I have some alien autopsy pics that will BLOW YOUR MIND!
Re: (Score:2)
. . . is now made out of green curry?
Nope, Green curry's Thai, not Indian.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The term 'untouchable' is banned in India. The current Chief Justice of India's Supreme Court is an 'untouchable'. The Chief Minister (== governor) of Uttar Pradesh (the most populous state, and one with the most number of representatives in parliament) is an 'untouchable' lady. The president before the last one, was an untouchable. Doesnt prove anything, but things are improving.
Re:India's first astronaut (Score:5, Insightful)
Hate crimes do take place against the disadvantaged groups in rural areas from time to time. The difference is that the educated middle class (numbering 300 million people from many walks of life) generally takes a dim view on caste intolerance in the country. I myself am middle class, and the product of an intercaste marriage (mother's family is a "high-caste" Brahmin though poor refugees from East Pakistan, father's family is a Dalit "untouchable" though relatively wealthy) and there never were any problems from anybody. Plus, India outlaws any discrimination against disadvantaged peoples, and has 50% affirmative action in schools, colleges and jobs for all disadvantaged peoples.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
So India's leadership has been open to every class huh?
Why don't we ask the untouchables that people like you pretend don't exist anymore how accepted they feel.
Until then, why don't you stop lying to yourself and the audience, and shut YOUR uniformed mouth.
Have YOU asked our 'untouchables'? Our constitution banned such discrimination right when it was written. Infact, the scholar who prepared ours was infact from the community you call 'untouchables'. So there.
Show many how many years after your american independence your blacks got freedom, voting rights, womens voting rights, etc etc legally. Just a couple of years back I heard on your radio that a judge asked a cop not to treat blacks like animals. That's where you guys are now, and you have the nerve to l
Re: (Score:2)
The Native Americans have almost enough money from their casinos to launch a mission! I think it's pretty funny that there are whites that gamble away everything they have at those casinos up to and including their mortgages...
"Indian steal white man's land"
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
OK here goes:
The chand is like chand in chandler.
ra is pronounced "raa"
yaan is with the soft a. think of it as "yarn" but soften out the 'r'
Hope this helps.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Why is it bad for a language to have its own word for a country? It's not exactly uncommon - for example, the Spanish call the United States "los Estados Unidos", rather than its name in English, and they call Americans "estadounidenses", literally United Statesians. Pretty much every language has its own words for names of countries. And for what it's worth, we call it Spain, but the Spanish call it España.