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Moon Space Science

Chandrayaan-1 Successfully Reaches 100km Lunar Orbit 152

Posted by timothy 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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Chandrayaan-1 Successfully Reaches 100km Lunar Orbit More

Chandrayaan-1 Successfully Reaches 100km Lunar Orbit

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  • Great. (Score:5, Funny)

    by 2names ( 531755 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2008 @01:32PM (#25736417)
    Now the moon is going to fall out of the sky.

    And I JUST GOT CABLE!

    • Re:Is that an I J or K motor? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by OSDever ( 792851 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2008 @01:49PM (#25736709)
      I imagine that's sustained Newtons for the duration of the fuel. So yeah, it's technically a liquid powered engine with the thrust capabilities of an I, but with significantly more fuel. An I engine should be plenty enough for maneuvering a small spacecraft in space.

      --
      The above comments are the opinions of a non-qualified amateur rocketry fan. Please take with ~ 2.7 ounces of salt.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by wjh31 ( 1372867 )
      i doubt its either

      for a start the measurement in the summary is in newtons not newton seconds like in the wiki article, so in theory it could be any of those depending on how long it lasts, i.e 440N for only 0.005s would be an A motor, also the wiki article looks to be for rocket motors, not for controlled thrusters, so in all likelyhood, your question is nonsense, sorry

    • You can't tell from TFA. 440 newtons (actually probably the 103 lbs IHI biprop) is the thrust, not the total impulse.

              Brett

  • Global cooperation (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 12, 2008 @01:33PM (#25736443)

    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)

      by Anonymous Coward

      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)

      by Anonymous Coward

      ...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.

    • 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.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by khallow ( 566160 )

        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.

        Right. I'll just have to prepare myself for lunar cowboy jokes then.

        Q: So why did the astronaut wear spurs?

        A: Because he'd look silly wearing only one.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by denobug ( 753200 )
        Well I like Outbacks a lot better. Steaks are more of the national food for Americans than the cheezy hamburgers from McD. You insensitive clod!

    • Explosive diarrhea in a spacesuit, sounds like an horror movie I wouldn't want to see.

  • new plot (Score:5, Funny)

    by ad0n ( 1171681 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2008 @01:34PM (#25736455)
    can't wait for the bollywood industry to set their hindi love films in space.. (cue dancers)

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      ha..ha..ha... now that is funny!!!

  • apollo lander module? (Score:4, Funny)

    by krystar ( 608153 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2008 @01:47PM (#25736667)
    so did they take pix of the supposed apollo landing site to prove once and for all whether or not the moon landing was fake?

    • Re:apollo lander module? (Score:5, Informative)

      by gstoddart ( 321705 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2008 @01:58PM (#25736839) Homepage

      so did they take pix of the supposed apollo landing site to prove once and for all whether or not the moon landing was fake?

      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

      • Re:apollo lander module? (Score:5, Informative)

        by smooth wombat ( 796938 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2008 @02:10PM (#25737003) Journal

        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.

        • 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:1)

          by arelas ( 1336019 )
          So that's what Ignignokt and Err have been up to all this time. psst...don't let Boston know...they'll freak out!

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by gnick ( 1211984 )

        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)

          by CriX ( 628429 )

          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.

          • 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, Interesting)

        by baKanale ( 830108 )
        Not to call doubt upon the Moon landing, but retroreflectors have been placed on the Moon as part of the unmanned Lunokhod program [wikipedia.org]. According to the link you posted:

        "The unmanned Soviet Lunokhod 1 and Lunokhod 2 rovers carried smaller arrays. Reflected signals were initially received from Lunokhod 1, but no return signals have been detected since 1971, at least in part due to some uncertainty in its location on the Moon. Lunokhod 2's array continues to return signals to Earth."

        Now, I dislike the Moon landi

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by shutdown -p now ( 807394 )
          Lunokhod 2 reflector array is in the location different from the Apollo ones. The whole point of the experiment is to point the beam at the known location - which coincides with the claimed location of a given Apollo landing - and receive the signal. If you do, then someone or something installed the equipment there, and it couldn't be Lunokhod, because it installed its equipment elsewhere (and you can check where it did that, too).
      • 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 thingy they installed.

        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)

      by ashitaka ( 27544 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2008 @02:02PM (#25736885) Homepage

      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)

  • Just what we needed in this financial crisis! (Score:5, Funny)

    by WiglyWorm ( 1139035 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2008 @01:49PM (#25736687) Homepage
    Now we can outsource all of Houston Mission Control's operations to India, it should be a real cost saving measure.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by $RANDOMLUSER ( 804576 )
      I cannot wait to listen to the first "Bangalore, we have a problem" support call...

      • Re: (Score:1, Flamebait)

        by jollyreaper ( 513215 )

        I cannot wait to listen to the first "Bangalore, we have a problem" support call...

        Have you tried rebooting your spacecraft, sir?

      • Re: (Score:1, Flamebait)

        by TheLink ( 130905 )
        "Your call is important to us"
        *music*
        <voice style=advert> NASA: For the Benefit of All... </voice>

        • Re: (Score:1, Interesting)

          by Anonymous Coward

          Persistent "funny" comments that equate everything Indian to call center, outsourcing, curry and caste.

          Hope the day will come when being ignorance and stupidity is no longer fashionable.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by sdpuppy ( 898535 )

          "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.

    • You deserve a promotion for that brilliant idea you will not see through to completion to make sure it's implemented correctly!

    • Re:Just what we needed in this financial crisis! (Score:4, Interesting)

      by iammani ( 1392285 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2008 @02:05PM (#25736931)
      I know you are trying to funny. But this moon mission has indeed prompted NASA scientist of Indian Origin to knock at Indian ISRO's door. Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/space-there-nasa-scientists-call-up-isro/76741-11.html?from=search [in.com]

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by elnyka ( 803306 )

      Now we can outsource all of Houston Mission Control's operations to India, it should be a real cost saving measure.

      Hahaha :) Maybe NASA will see the writings on the wall and begins to cut the fat and start moving in the right direction.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by pkphilip ( 6861 )

      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)

    by iammani ( 1392285 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2008 @01:49PM (#25736717)
    Some interesting facts about this attempt:

    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)

      by phantomcircuit ( 938963 )

      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: (Score:2)

      by radtea ( 464814 )

      The other countries, which have sent spacecraft to Moon, are the United States, former Soviet Union, Japan and China

      So what you're saying is that nations that send a spacecraft to the Moon have a 20% chance of ceasing to exist within a couple of decades?

      Joking aside, this is wonderful news for India and the world.

  • When does it start taking high-res pics of the landing sites that we can rub in the faces of the conspiritards?

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by bugeaterr ( 836984 )

      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!

  • Oh wait, wrong Indians. ;)

    • 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"

  • "Its eventual hitting of the moon's surface"? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Atario ( 673917 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2008 @02:48PM (#25737601) Homepage

    Are you looking for the phrase "impact on"? Maybe "collision with"? Or even "hit on"? There are a plethora of choices... [reference.com]

  • Gee, I hope they don't miss. Ohh, wouldn't that be embarrassing.

  • One day in Space (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by EEPROMS ( 889169 )
    [Large tentacled alien enters space station, glass doors slide open]
    Shopkeeper "Hello sir how may I be helping you"
    Queeg [vicious tone] "My name is queeg you puss filled mud breeder, show me your leader"
    Shopkeeper "Sorry sir but the manager is not being in right now, would you like some jelly dogs, they are on special"
    Queeg "hmm, they look good, give me two"
    [a few minutes later alien leaves space station]
    Shopkeeper [calls out] "thank you be coming again"
    [Alien stops outside glass doors looks at food
  • They successfully did with 2008 technology what we did with 1967 technology.

    Well, at least they are doing it!
  • I thought that a human had to step foot on the 'new found' soil and PLANT a flag and do some kinda ritual chant to claim 'new found' lands. Someone must have changed the rules. If I recall, America has a spacecraft leaving our solar system, if it 'drops a flag' just before, and sometime after leaving our solar system, does that mean that America can lay claim to the solar system and then the Universe ? Not to mention our Mars rovers. They have flags on them, I believe. So America can claim Mars too ? Seein

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