Slashdot Log In
Chandrayaan-1 Successfully Reaches 100km Lunar Orbit
Posted by
timothy
on Wed Nov 12, 2008 02:28 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."
Related Stories
[+]
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."
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Full
Abbreviated
Hidden
Loading... please wait.
Great. (Score:5, Funny)
And I JUST GOT CABLE!
Re:Great. (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
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... ;-)
new plot (Score:5, 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, 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: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
Just what we needed in this financial crisis! (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
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
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.
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, 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