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India's Chandrayaan Lands Impact Probe On the Moon
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Fri Nov 14, 2008 02:04 PM
from the peacock-has-landed dept.
from the peacock-has-landed dept.
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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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."
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Chandrayaan-1 Successfully Reaches 100km Lunar Orbit 152 comments
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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Moon Base Dell Support Center (Score:3, Funny)
That's no moon.... (Score:2, Funny)
It's Cheese!
(if you mod this down, the meme will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine)
The first images.... (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:The first images.... (Score:4, Funny)
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Re: (Score:2)
Troll? Surely the Simpsons should be required knowledge before you get mod status...
Indian Probe? (Score:2, Funny)
So how long before there is a bollywood musical on this?
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Re:Indian Probe? (Score:4, Funny)
big shiny space suits
You haven't seen a lot of recent Bollywood cinema have you?
While the outfits are likely to be shiny, the ones worn by the women during dance scenes will be tiny.
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Landing? (Score:5, Interesting)
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That was my first thought also.
On the other hand we use the expression "Land a punch" which is certainly not a soft feathery thing (we hope).
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But nobody walked away from this one...
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Must not be mentioned in the article you read... in the one I read it states:
"Space official Shiv Kumar said the 34-kilogram probe hit the moon surface traveling at 1.6 kilometers per second, which is a speed of 5,760 kilometers per hour (3,579 mph)."
The probe is a nation? (Score:5, Funny)
the Indian Space probe, Chandrayaan has become only the fourth nation to land a probe on the Moon
It also must be the smallest nation to ever accomplish such a feat!
Fun Fact (Score:2)
The Chandrayaan Constitution was twittered!
Re:The probe is a nation? (Score:4, Insightful)
Instead: "With the Chandrayaan-1 mission, the ISRO becomes the fourth space program..."
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Read more carefully. India might have a population of 1.15 billion, but the probe itself does not.
Which is it? (Score:5, Funny)
Is it a lander or did it impact?
When I book a flight, I want to know the landing time, not the impact time.
Re:Which is it? (Score:5, Funny)
That's because they *can* tell you the landing time in advance. The impact time tends to be determined on rather short notice...
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When someone asks you how far you'd get if you lost one of the engines, tell 'em "All the way to the scene of the crash! We'll beat the paramedics there by half an hour, we're haulin ass!"
(Credit Ron White for that.)
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Pround moment (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Pround moment (Score:5, Insightful)
Considering that this advances humanity (albeit just a little more, since we've done similar things before, but rarely), I think all of humanity can be proud of this.
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Can we finally... (Score:4, Interesting)
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You know they're not going to accept that, either. It would just prove that the conspiracy reaches even further. India is a US ally, after all.
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five stories below this one (Score:2)
is a story fretting about nasa funding shortfalls under the obama administration
so the larger take home message is that yes, while the american space program is but a shadow of its former glory, the global space race is alive and well, with china with its space walks and india with its moon landings, rising in prominence. the eu, australia, japan, brazil... lots of nations are in the game, no longer is it a cold war chest thumping exercise between the ussr and the usa
well, its still a tribal chest thumping
Information vacuum (Score:3, Interesting)
To be celebrated,not trolled (Score:3, Insightful)
I read a whole bunch of "wisecracks" and trolls about India and stereotypical bigoted comments about 7-11 and call centers, etc.
It is sad that geeks such as some on Slashdot choose to try and divide and disrespect as opposed to integrate and celebrate what is surely a quantum leap in what technology and engineering has enabled India/mankind to do.
When technology levels the playing ground, it becomes imperative for those whose hegemony is threatened change from their jingoism to a more mellifluous tune.
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O cmon Neil Armstrong's first words on the moon were " Thats one small step for man, one giant leap for... Sardarji aap yaha?"
Re:india has nukes (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:Irrational Fear (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, if there's another successful nation on the planet, we're dooooooomed.
Talk about insecure.
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Re:Irrational Fear (Score:5, Funny)
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Yes, if there's another successful nation on the planet, we're dooooooomed.
For your sentiment to make sense, you'd have to be confident that America still has what it takes to go to the moon. Is that the case?
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"Done for" in what sense? Just because someone else gets it better doesn't mean you get it worse.
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Re:Irrational Fear (Score:5, Insightful)
Unfortunately, you're not the only one. A lot of people are deluded in precisely the same way. There's a old human instinct that gets misapplied in modern times such that when someone in Florida is successful, someone in Michigan gets excited about it, proud of the accomplishment and hopeful for his future prospects in the world, whereas if it's someone in Berlin or Baghdad or Beijing, the same person in Michigan gets depressed, takes no pride in it, and worries about his future prospects in the world. This never made a great deal of sense, and makes virtually none at all in the modern world with a global economy.
We enrich ourselves the most (both monetarily and culturally) through our interactions with those more closely on par with us economically. Our best trading partners are the G8, and we all profit immensely from their success. Our most harmful relationships, both for our own economies and citizens as well as for those we exploit, are with third-world nations. The imbalances in those relationships hurt us all in different ways.
The moral of this story is quite simple: the sooner India, China, and other third-world nations "get their acts together" and rise to "first-world" status, the sooner they come to be on par with us in the same way our G8 partners are, the richer we all will be. An impoverished and thus cheaply exploitable India is a far greater threat to us than opportunity -- a rich and prosperous India would be a far greater opportunity than threat.
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The moral of this story is quite simple: the sooner India, China, and other third-world nations "get their acts together" and rise to "first-world" status, the sooner they come to be on par with us in the same way our G8 partners are, the richer we all will be. An impoverished and thus cheaply exploitable India is a far greater threat to us than opportunity -- a rich and prosperous India would be a far greater opportunity than threat.
That's not entirely true. The comfortable lives people in rich countries enjoy is because they can outsource labor to poorer countries. An iPod costs only $200 because they guy making it in China makes only (say) $200/month. Now if it were manufactured in the US, it would probably cost at least $300.
This'll have a rippling effect on prices of all commodities. For eg people whose services we depend upon, like cooks and waiters will demand more money, since their money will now buy less. As a result eating ou
Re:Impact probe (Score:4, Informative)
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It's very hard to understand why Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" is not required reading for politicians and corporate leaders. If you depend on slave labor (in the US case, outsourcing) then ultimately your empire will fall. It's inevitable. And yet so avoidable. Eventually, there is a payback for greed, and this's just yet more proof that politicians are ultimately self-centered
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Since the US has been sat on its ass gloating for 40 years they're not 40 years behind any more. I'd put them maybe two or three before they go for the moon shot.
Re:Ahh.. American Relevance (Score:5, Insightful)
If they land men on the moon in two years, they'll be 41 years behind. You seem to assume we haven't accomplished anything since 1969. You're discounting our Mars missions (rovers, landers, satellites), the Hubble, the Space Station, GPS, the Shuttle, the upcoming JWST, not to mention the myriad satellites, probes and impacters. We've truly, repeatedly, gone where no man has gone before, they cannot say the same. It's much easier to follow in the footsteps of another than to blaze your own trail.
Granted, we haven't really made any giant leaps since 69, except for ubiquitous Internet (that's a massive except) and minicomputers, but we have made enough small steps to climb a mountain. Everything we did yesterday, we do better today. We haven't done too much new, just everything old, better. So much advancement has been made in the last 15 years, it's ridiculous. It may not be a space age, but it's certainly the age of improvement and refinement. Everything is smaller, faster, smarter, cheaper, and all around better. Many small steps, in aggregate, can be better than one giant leap.
It's foolish to assume that because people are catching up to our achievements made decades ago, that they are somehow superior to us. It is good for them though, and perhaps it will give us the impetus to move on to bigger and better things.
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Mod parent Funny (Score:2)
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Good day Sir, this is Patrick only.
What do you need IT support for?
To start your foreclosure paperwork?
Re:more people in poverty than population of USA (Score:5, Insightful)
India's INSAT series have been very helpful in the past, and people were saying this when those were launched. ISRO has a nice commercial launch program and this will only improve perceptions of their ability and reliability.
That's all without pointing out the implicit false dichotomy in your comment. India can solve its problems, we, as a people, in incredible short sightedness, have chosen not to. Corruption is rampant, but the only people who can stand strong against it (the informed, educated middle class) is happy because they have good salaries. The poor cannot do anything, they have little power. The rich won't do anything, they benefit. We're in that lovely no-man's land where it is better for the individual to take what he's got and live it nicely. I don't mean this as a condemnation of any political philosophy, or India itself. I am Indian, and I am like this, and I can see that everyone else is, too.
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Read the exoplanet story comments [slashdot.org] from a few days back, for instance.