Communication Lost With Indian Moon Satellite 186
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)."
obligatory comment (Score:3, Funny)
... Are they sure that was a moon?
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scratches head I'm trying to figure out how the first comment to the story could be "redundant". Hey, moderator who did that: You're a moron. Also, you will never have enough mod points to defeat me. nyaaaah. -_- Okay... my childish needs are satisfied for the afternoon.
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It means "we've heard that joke too much & are sick of it." Your code word for this is obligatory, but since there's no "-1 Obligatory" the moderator used "-1 Redundant" which is actually a pretty common usage.
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It means "we've heard that joke too much & are sick of it." Your code word for this is obligatory, but since there's no "-1 Obligatory" the moderator used "-1 Redundant" which is actually a pretty common usage.
*shrug* I hear star wars references at work at least once a day. I didn't think it was possible for them to get sick of it. I'm going with the notion that the moderator in question shorted himself on caffeine and hates life.
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I hear star wars references at work at least once a day.
Be that as it may, many are turning against non sequitur pop culture quotations as humor; xkcd 307 [xkcd.com] is a particularly relevant example.
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I love XKCD, but Randall Munroe should perhaps remove the beam from his own eye ...
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That would explain why he can't draw for shit.
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Be that as it may, many are turning against non sequitur pop culture quotations as humor; xkcd 307 is a particularly relevant example.
They're doing it because they don't like being left out when average people quote movies and television series they haven't seen. I learned a long time ago that appearing to be smart and intellectual all the time comes at a cost to my social life -- it's better to keep my education and intelligence "in my pocket" as it were. If that means knowing a few facts about the current mix of reality TV shows, and picking up a celebrity gossip magazine here and there, so be it. It just means that I have plans friday
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It just means that I have plans friday night while my geek friends sit at home grinding on World of Warcraft.
My plans for next Friday are to run heroics with my wife to help get her new level 80 geared up. Best of both worlds, I suppose.
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In Soviet Russia, Joke has heard YOU too much!
(sorry, I couldn't resist...)
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-1 Flamebait by ae-1294 - "loss of smoke signals occurred sometime around noon."
+2 Funny by A.C. - "India's not far form Africa. Maybe it wasn't "lost" at all. Maybe it was stolen by a MOON CRICKET! [urbandictionary.com] Like maybe the moon cricket thought it looked like a bicycle or something"
WOW! the inmates are running the asylum...
Clearly... (Score:5, Funny)
They must have asked it something that wasn't on the script!
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Re:Clearly... (Score:5, Funny)
Japan (Score:1, Insightful)
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 (mad
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Joseph P. Kennedy was so far ahead of his time for pushing his kids into politics.
Joe Kennedy was not ahead of his time. What he did has been done repeatedly down through the ages - first aquire wealth then establish your line firmly within the ruling/governing class.
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Re:Japan (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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I dunno. Maybe they just need to call tech support....
Naah, it's just the greys. (Score:1)
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rfc1149 (Score:3, Funny)
shortly before contact was lost the system was upgraded to be rfc1149 compliant
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Hopefully... (Score:2, Informative)
They will at least find out what happened. The more efficient space agencies we have exploring, the better overall for the planet.
Makes the game more fun.
Re:Hopefully... (Score:5, Informative)
I am quoting from a local language news paper ( http://www.keralakaumudi.com/ [keralakaumudi.com] ) from India:
Preliminary analysis shows that Chandrayan likely failed due to inadequate heat shielding (problem was radiated heat from the Moon) causing some of the instruments to fail (like Star Sensor). They raised the orbit to around 200km (from the initial 100km) to save the mission and it did not help much.
According to the report Chandrayan was successful in completing 95 percent of the mission objectives. The reports also said that they (ISRO) are going ahead with the next moon mission.
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Uuum... if it did not survive the "heat" of the Moon, how did it survive the real heat of earth (athmosphere) and launch then...?
Smells fishy to me.
Bollywood's Apollo 13 (Score:5, Funny)
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MIssion control has quickly invested the rest of their budget in a Bollywood-made lunar landing.
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It's just a pause before it breaks out in song and dance...
Bollywood.
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Hey India, maned mission next time around, show us some drama.
You want them to send horses? o.O
Aliens... (Score:2)
have a base on the dark side. Obviously they are to blame.
Re:Aliens... (Score:5, Insightful)
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In Soviet Russia, stupid memes recirculate YOU!
Go India! (Score:5, Insightful)
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!
Re:Go India! (Score:5, Funny)
But do not attempt landing on Europa.
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Better than attempt land on Uranus.
Shouldn't you be more worried about Uranus? (Score:2)
Subject says it all.
Re:Go India! (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Sigh (Score:5, Informative)
I am not trying to belittle their efforts. In fact, far from it. I applaud them and hope that we will bring them into the ISS down the road. BUT, I still prefer that ppl are honest about what is going on.
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The Ruppee IS fixed against the dollar. The reason why it was lowered was because good were expensive in India. When they started increasing the value against the dollar, IBM, Verizon, and a number of software companies threatened to pull out of there and return to the USA. As such, India put it back to 48.
More important, that is what le
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There's an interesting (for many reasons) video on the Chandrayaan site:
http://www.isro.org/chandrayaan/htmls/resources_videoCrater.htm [isro.org]
In it, they allude to India as having the second highest number of scientists in the world.
Overall, a successful mission, given the difficulty and chance of failure (Item 20 in their FAQ):
http://www.isro.org/chandrayaan/htmls/faqs.htm [isro.org]
Re:Go India! (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Also, I found it a little strange that the BBC article didn't mention this, but the Chandrayaan-1 had already been in successful operation for 312 days and had completed all of its primary mission goals. It had already collected plenty of scientific data, distributed to not just Indian scientists but also collaborators in Europe and the US. Of course, another year would be nice, but I'd consider the project a stunning success by just about any reasonable definition, especially since it was India's first ever lunar probe.
I look forward to India's Chandrayaan-2, which is planned to land a robotic rover on the Moon in 2012.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrayaan-1#Completion_of_primary_objectives [wikipedia.org]
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"What's strange about the Western media ignoring the enormous positive achievements of anyone..."
There. Fixed it for you.
News: We did it, allies did it (maybe), perceived threat did it (China, Russia, etc.)
Not News: Pretty much anybody else.
Well said - counterblast to dumb posters (Score:2)
Well said sir. Not many countries have operated a satellite around the moon and achieved their primary objectives in nearly a year of successful operation. The more countries (and private concerns) that do so the better, we need more countries with space ambitions. It's very likely only one country will have the capability to launch people into space in the near future, it's easy to fear a time when we cease to have meaningful explorations into space at all.
A bit of a shame that the majority of slashdot pos
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I admit that some of my bias is political. This is irrelevant to the scientific issue, but present nonetheless. But politics aside, when China puts a man on the moon, I will be cheering.
But I stand by what I said, there is a difference in focus. China's future space plans (going by Wikipedia here, sorry) seem to focus on manned missions to orbit, space stations, and a manned moon expedition. They've got a robotic mission to lunar orbit finished, but have no concrete plans for robotic rovers or landers t
So they called tech support... (Score:4, Funny)
OPERATOR: Hello, my name is Prakesh Vijay Chandrashekar Subrayaman, but please call me "Bob." What seems to be the problem today?
MISSION CONTROL: We've lost communications with our lunar satellite.
"BOB": I see. Well, have you tried rebooting the system?
MC: There is no system to reboot. It's a satellite, not a PC!
"BOB": I see. Well, have you checked to see if the power cord is plugged into the device?
MC: Are you not listening? There is no power cord, it's a *satellite*.
"BOB": I see. Well, sir, I'll need you to find the original CD-ROM that came with the satellite and put it into the CD-ROM drive, the turn the power off, then turn it back on again.
MC: OK, this is getting ridiculous, "Bob". I thought this was the satellite technical support line. Do you know anything about *satellites*?
"BOB": I see. Well, let me see what I can do. Can I place you on hold for four or five hours?
MC: -- click --
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You left out the part where they say in indianglish
"BOB": We're very sorry that you are experiencing this problem. This problem is by our hand and we will take care of it. Once again, we are very sorry, now can you please begin by giving me your first name?
MC: Mission
"BOB": OK "Mission", can you now give me your last name?
MC: Control
"BOB": OK Mr. "Control", do you mind if I call you "Mission"?
MC: Uhm, OK.
"BOB": OK, "Mission" can you look for me on the side of your satellite and read me the service tag on th
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It's Mission Control's fault, for calling the Toshiba Satellite tech support number.
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You sir, are completely out of touch with tech support scripts.
You say that like it's a bad thing.
Now go and unplug your dam satellite and hold the reset button down whilst plugging it in.
Aliens (Score:1)
I for one welcome our new satellite crushing overlords.
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data shows no sign of altitude loss, rapid decel (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe it ran into a rather large, mostly colorless, and smooth monolith.
LoB
Re:data shows no sign of altitude loss, rapid dece (Score:4, Funny)
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+5 would laugh again
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Enjoyed reading post, A++++ slashdotter, would read again.
Re:data shows no sign of altitude loss, rapid dece (Score:5, Interesting)
Blessed Ganesha, it's full of cows!
Nicely done (and in good taste too :)). Pity you're all alone in a sea of mediocre pseudo-wits :(.
I'm not offended as an Indian (by the over-abused and lame tech support jokes that litter the desolate landscape of this thread); I'm offended as a connoisseur of good comedy . Seriously dudes (who-probably-lost-their-jobs-to-outsourcing-and-are-surprisingly-hard-to-feel-sympathy-for-at-this-particular-moment), that meme is about as funny as the one about Soviet Russia or even *shudder* sharks with lasers. It is scary that Fark is so much better at meme-based humor than the supposedly godlike nerds that inhabit this realm.
manufacturer? (Score:1, Insightful)
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).
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reboot ? (Score:2, Funny)
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Watchdog.
it saddens me that most people here probably don't know what that means.
Re:reboot ? (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Re:reboot ? (Score:5, Insightful)
Excellent bullshit. I'd give it a 4.7
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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.
Won't the monkeys be too busy writing Shakespeare?
The world is not okay (Score:3, Funny)
2009 was the year the Indian lunar satellite went out of control.
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Please do the needful! (Score:3, Informative)
If the needful had been done, this would not have happened.
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two years after becoming the only American developer at my company, and I am starting to realize that "doing the needful" is not just an error in translation.
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Huh? (Score:2)
I think the Indians stole something...
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Haha, that's how I read it too. India has their own moon, it is news to me.
Link to another forum- same topic (Score:3, Informative)
Orbiting the moon is exceptionally difficult (Score:5, Interesting)
Orbiting the moon is a lot harder than orbiting the earth. The moon's gravitational field is exceptionally lumpy [wikipedia.org] because of concentrations of mass beneath the surface. If not actively corrected for, these mass concentrations will make a satellite's orbit go through increasingly violent gyrations until it eventually intersects with the surface.
I wonder if this is what happened to the Indian probe.
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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.)
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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 (Score:5, Insightful)
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?
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What you said actually makes sense upon further thought. I wouldn't call myself certain in either line of thought currently.
My original thought was that after going through an area of increased gravitational pull, then hitting an area of lower gravitational pull, the satellite's trajectory would be altered in such a way over time that it could break free from the gravitational effect of the moon if it hits a lower gravitational field at a necessary point within its altered orbital path.
Now what I'm curious
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The Official press release [isro.org] seems to indicate that it was a communications failure this time. The contact was lost abruptly this time. If it was falling I would assume that
In other news... (Score:2, Flamebait)
A radio signal was detected from the Moon and appears to be aimed at Io.
--
BMO
Oh My! (Score:1)
Communications were fine upto a hieght (Score:1)
Wtf BBC? Seriously? (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously BBC... wtf is up with that? India is a trillion dollar economy and this was 75 million usd project. Can I say chump change? For some context, India recently announced a really stupid 30 billion usd national id scheme [wikipedia.org]. While reporting that, you [bbc.co.uk] did not care to mention India's millions that lack basic services. Why do you hate India and real scientific progress so much?
Re:Wtf BBC? Seriously? (Score:4, Interesting)
Some critics regard BBC as a waste of resources in a country where millions lack basic services.
India may be lying in the gutter, but at least they are looking up, and working hard on getting out.
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Some critics regard the space programme as a waste of resources in a country where millions still lack basic services.
well, I've been to rural Alabama. Which country was the critics talking about again?
Re:Wtf BBC? Seriously? (Score:5, Insightful)
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And how does feeding people for one day or providing one town health care for ten years solve the long term problems that India faces? At least your suggestion of building sewage treatment plants has the potential for providing long term benefits. However, I suspect that increasing India's level of technological expertise will go farther towards increasing its wealth (and hence its ability to care for its citizens) than anything you suggested.
Congrats India! (Score:2, Interesting)
What an achievement for a country where you can't use your credit card in most places, and where Banks don't even have reliable phone service. Reminds of the time I enfielded from Delhi to Gaya and in the middle of a tea stop a white-robed local came up to me shouting angrily in Hindi and broken English, "India is Great! India is Great!" I responded by buying him a cup, and that seemed to calm him down after I halfheartedly agreed with him, but now I wish now I had the stats on Chandrayaan-1 and perhaps so
Re:Was the satellite outsourced for design and bui (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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I've met a number of people, programmers and tech support included, and I've come to the conclusion that people don't actually suck at being human. 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 human-related fields that they've been forced to draft in people who aren't actually good at it.
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How does one fail at living?
Oh... right. That.
Humanity: 100% fail rate. Guaranteed.
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I think the problem is a bit more deep. Having sat in on interview boards for hiring high level technicians in India (basically hiring my replacement) I thought it was a major plus if they showed up to the interview, and another major plus if they seemed to understand our questions and answer back - never mind analyzing what they told us (since I couldn't understand it).
So you may have to hire like 5 people in the hopes you get someone who is technical - which is what they did. They hired 10 people at 60,00
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