Communication Lost With Indian Moon Satellite

stoolpigeon writes "All communication links with the only Indian satellite orbiting the Moon have been lost, India's space agency says. Radio contact with the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was lost abruptly early on Saturday, said India's Bangalore-based Space Research Organization (ISRO)."

Go India!

[goodmanj]

Before this thread fills up completely with cynical wisecracking Americans, let me be the first to say, as a cynical wisecracking American, go India!

Seriously. You guys have a very solid set of rockets, a good broad focus (China's too focused on manned missions), and the technical skills to make it happen.

See you at Jupiter someday!

Japan

[Anonymous Coward]

I barely remember as a kid, folks used to make fun of Japanese made stuff.

Then the 80s came.

If your kids don't have any genius level talent - and I'm mean they leave their peers in the dust without any assistance from you - encourage them to go to law school and become some sort of elected official. In the near future, if you're not some sort of Government VIP, you'll be little people. Joseph P. Kennedy was so far ahead of his time for pushing his kids into politics. Why else would a multimillionaire (made illegally - allegedly did business with Al Capone- and by means that became illegal) push his kids into Government?

Re:Go India!

[quarterbuck]

The whole mission cost only $75 million, about 7 times the Ansari X-Prize (still considerably bigger than Google Lunar X-Prize though). That's pretty cheap for a full moonshot and satellite. So I guess India can afford to lose a few satellites here and there.
Last month they had a malfunction and pulled the satellite up from a 100km orbit to a 200 km one , so the images are of lower quality than planned. I am guessing there will be another moonshot now, considering they just started calling this the "Chandrayan-1" instead of "Chandrayan" with no numbers next to it.

manufacturer?

[Anonymous Coward]

I got the impression the satellite was less Indian than International (or at least there were American payload on board), so the datalink equipment may not be of Indian in origin (too many cooks spoiled the broth; see also Boeing 787).

Re:Aliens...

[John Hasler]

I suppose they could have a mobile base that continually moves so as to always stay on the dark side, but wouldn't it make more sense to just put it on the far side and leave it there?

Re:reboot ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Watchdog.

it saddens me that most people here probably don't know what that means.

Re:Was the satellite outsourced for design and bui

[Quothz]

I've met a number of Indian 'tech' people, programmers and tech support included, and I've come to the conclusion that India doesn't actually suck at tech. In fact, they are quite good at it. The bad rep comes from the fact that they are pushing so much of their populace into tech-related fields that they've been forced to draft in people who aren't actually good at it.

I've met a number of 'tech' people, programmers and tech support included, and I've come to the conclusion that people don't actually suck at tech. In fact, some are quite good at it. The bad rep comes from the fact that society is pushing so much of the populace into tech-related fields that they've been forced to draft in people who aren't actually good at it.

Re:Orbiting the moon is exceptionally difficult

[RocketRocketship]

While that sounds pretty good, I'm fairly certain from a logical standpoint the odds of impacting the moon are as good or worse than the odds of leaving orbit and flying out into space. (Especially with the low gravity levels of the moon.)

I'm less than certain. Intersecting with the Moon would only require changes in ellipticity, whereas causing the satellite to become unbound would require a considerable increase in the satellite's kinetic energy.

Re:Orbiting the moon is exceptionally difficult

[Buelldozer]

No.

The lumps of heavier density inside the moon caused localized areas of increased gravity which tries to pull the satellite down. There is no force, except that provided by any motors on board the satellite, that would sent it out towards space.

What school of logic do you claim as an Alma Mata?

Re:Japan

[SL Baur]

I barely remember as a kid, folks used to make fun of Japanese made stuff.

Yeah, and after mastering the art of kaizen (and retooling after the war), nobody was laughing at "Made in Japan" any more.

India has refused to cripple themselves with c(r)ap and trade.

I know of at least two folks I mentored at work in the mid 1980s who are now university professors. I'm following my job to India, and I'll take up the role I've always taken up and be tutoring as many people as I can. I already have a "conspiracy" set up with a (very) bright programmer in Bangalore to tutor as many coworkers as we can.

India will not always be considered backwards and disrespected. I think that's a good thing. Competition Is Good.

Re:Wtf BBC? Seriously?

[Anonymous Coward]

Imho, "some critics" is pretty weak. You will always find "some critics" to criticize almost anything. When reporters chooses to put them in the report, they are betraying their own opinions and biases or at least saying that the criticism is legit.

Re:reboot ?

[Fëanáro]

When the Soviets launched Sputnik 2 a small dog was on board. The dog had been trained to monitor the primitive electronics on board. Unfortunately the dog was not that good at monitoring the life support equipment and died of suffocation. The idea lived on though but now we use monkeys. They tend to be a little smarter and they can turn dials in addition to pushing buttons. Most commercial satellites now launch with monkeys aboard.

Excellent bullshit. I'd give it a 4.7