What's new

Indian Space Capabilities

It is hurling towards moon to paint the tiranga. Congratulations to ISRO.
 
It feels different when seeing towards moon now guys, Jai Hind
Chandrayaan-I Impact Probe lands on moon-India-The Times of India

Chandrayaan-I Impact Probe lands on moon
14 Nov 2008, 2035 hrs IST, AGENCIES

MUMBAI: The Indian tricolour marked its presence on the moon on Friday night after having flown 3,86,000km from the earth. The timing of this
proud moment had been specially designed to coincide with Children's Day.

The United States, the former Soviet Union and the European Space Agency comprising 17 countries already have their flags on the moon.

The Indian tricolour is painted on all sides of the 29-kg Moon Impact Probe which is attached to the main orbiting spacecraft, Chandrayaan-1, which was launched on October 22.

The inclusion of the MIP as part of the Chandrayaan mission came at the suggestion of former President A P J Abdul Kalam, a former rocket scientist, during the International Lunar Exploration Working Group conference held at Udaipur in November 2004.

The Indian tricolour had been hoisted on Mount Everest and Antarctica. And now it is on the moon.

The flight of the MIP on Friday is a forerunner to the second Indian moon mission, Chandrayaan-2, which will carry a Russian rover and a lander slated for lift-off between 2010 and 2012.
 
The Hindu : Front Page : Indigenous effort all the way

Indigenous effort all the way

T.S. Subramanian


Another picture of the moon taken by the Moon Impact Probe on Friday.

CHENNAI: What was extraordinary about the historic event of Chandrayaan-1’s probe landing on the moon on Friday night was that the spacecraft was built in India, it was put into orbit by the Indian rocket, PSLV-C11, and the launch took place from Indian soil, said a jubilant M. Annadurai, Project Director, Chandrayaan-1. Mr. Annadurai led the team that integrated the 11 scientific instruments, including the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) into the Chandrayaan-1 bus at the ISRO Satelllite Centre, Bangalore. The MIP was built by the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram. “We have got all the data. We are working on the data and processing them,” Mr. Annadurai said.

S. Ramakrishnan, Director (Projects), VSSC, called it “a momentous occasion for ISRO and India because it is for the first time that we have sent a spacecraft to an extra-terrestrial body and its MIP with the logo of the Indian flag has reached the moon soil.”

Everything went as per schedule right from the separation of the MIP at 8.06.54 p.m. IST from Chandrayaan-1 to the MIP impacting on the Shackleton crater 25 minutes later, Mr. Annadurai said. The entire sequence of events began at 7.15 p.m. at the Spacecraft Control Centre (SCC), which was the nerve-centre of the operations, at the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bangalore, headed by its Director S.K. Shivakumar.

The spacecraft got oriented in the right attitude before the command went from the SCC for the MIP to separate. The MIP separated as per plan and “we got the positive signal that it had separated,” Mr. Annadurai said. Then the data link from the cable to the radio frequency got changed as per plan. “For 25 minutes of its descent towards the lunar soil, we received continuous radio frequency signal from the MIP,” he added. About 300 seconds after the separation of the MIP, the SCC received signals of a reduction in the velocity of the descent of the MIP indicating that the retro-rocket had fired.

Twenty-five minutes after the separation began, “the receiver went on unlock, indicating that the MIP had impacted on the Shackleton crater on the moon,” said Mr. Annadurai. “The trajectory of the MIP was excellent,” he said.

As the MIP crashed on the lunar surface, it self-destructed.

Earlier, data from the video-camera of the MIP, its radar altimeter and mass spectrometer kept pouring in simultaneously throughout the 25 minutes of the MIP’s descent. The video-camera had taken a number of pictures of the moon’s surface.

As this sequence was being enacted, Chandrayaan-1, the mother-spacecraft, had gone behind the moon.

“We have had a good success and everything went as per our aim. What is important is that the former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (a rocket technologist himself) was present at the SCC during the occasion,” said Mr. Annadurai.

Mr. Ramakrishnan called it “a precision mission” in which the MIP was in communication with the mother-spacecraft during all the 25 minutes. The MIP separation was indicated by a disturbance in the Chandrayaan-1. Its gyros and sensors sensed the separation. “We could see the spin-up and de-orbit motors work [on the plot-board],” he said.

“Everything went precisely in this mission. Right from the PSLV-C11 launch on October 22, the Chandrayaan-1 being safely inserted into the lunar orbit on November 8, the MIP separating from Chandrayaan-1 and its impacting on the moon, everything performed with clock-work precision,” Mr. Ramakrishnan said.
 
I love the image :), leave other guys I am going with Mr. kalam's statements

Mission Moon: Kalam?s brainchild lands succesfully-India-The Times of India

Mission Moon: Kalam’s brainchild lands succesfully
15 Nov 2008, 0257 hrs IST, Srinivas Laxman, TNN

201bb1ac2faae315e8337b90204e9160._.jpg


MUMBAI: Former president APJ Abdul Kalam, who first suggested the inclusion of Moon Impact Probe in the Chandrayaan mission, said the landing of the probe on the lunar surface proves India’s superior technology.

Kalam, a rocket scientist, put forward the idea during the International Lunar Exploration Working Group Conference at Udaipur in November 2004.

Kalam told TOI: ‘‘After (the spacecraft) going so near the moon, I felt the mission will have more scientific relevance if the probe was included. I believe that the moon cannot be left to a few countries.


I strongly felt that India cannot be left behind. So, I suggested the probe, and many in ISRO enthusiastically supported the plan.’’

‘‘The landing of the probe establishes India’s presence on the moon and prove that India can do it,’’ Kalam said.


According to him, the probe will help in studying the moon’s geological features. ‘‘I visualise that in another four decades, the earth, moon and Mars will have economic and strategic importance. Well, my feeling is the way we have taken Chandrayaan and flown 3,80,000 km clicking a beautiful picture of the earth and putting it into the lunar orbit on November 8 is impressive. November 8 is, therefore, a very important day for us.’’

Strategic expert K Subrahmanyam said the landing placed India on par with powerful space powers like the US and Russia.‘‘It has some political significance because our Indian flag is on the moon. Apart from the political importance, it is also a great technological achievement for India.’’

Disagreeing with Subrahmanyam was New Delhi-based strategic analyst Bharat Karnad who said that the moon landing by India had no strategic importance. ‘‘The landing has a symbolic value and certainly places India among the elite group of countries. But it has no geopolitical significance.’’ At the same time Karnad added: ‘‘Hundred to 150 years from now when the moon is colonised, India can be proud of the fact that it had a pioneering status.’’

Former atomic energy commission chairman P K Iyengar said the way the space scientists manoeuvered the mooncraft at such a distance establishes that India had the technical capability to undertake more ambitious space missions . ‘‘Yes, the Indian flag on the moon had some political significance, but scientifically no value.’’
 
Its really great guys. It kinda shows what heights can be achieved with good leadership.

If we continue to be blessed with people like Kalam and Annadurai, nothing is out of our reach, be it in the social field, or in the scientific.
 
Hey that's gr8 news. We are planning a big party if we are going to here the news for successful impact. Otherwise any way we are going to:cheers:

It has taught a gr8 amount of lessons for future missions already.

Hey Congrats fello Indians and count me in for the PARTY .. :cheers: Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee :victory:

Thanks
 
Scientist calls for co-op between Asian space powers

BEIJING—A Chinese scientist on Wednesday called for moon probe program experts in China, India and Japan to step up cooperation to "deepen mankind's understanding of the moon."
Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist for China's moon exploration program, said the three countries shared goals on moon probe while each had its advantages.
Taking a full map of the moon's surface, detecting minerals and studying the space environment were the common goals, he said.
Each country had its unparalleled technological competitiveness, and he expected more cooperation and hoped to see more contributions made by the scientists in the three Asian countries.
Ouyang's comments came only hours after Chinese scientists revealed the country's first full map of the moon's surface, which was hailed as the most complete image of the moon surface yet published.
The picture was released more than a year after the launch of China's first lunar probe, Chang'e-1.
An official also announced on Wednesday that China would launch a second lunar probe, Chang'e-2, before 2012, as part of its three-stage moon mission.
The eventual goal is to bring lunar soil and stone samples back to earth for study in about 2017.
"Chang'e" is named after a legendary Chinese moon goddess.
In 1990, following the Soviet Union and the United States, Japan became the third country to orbit the moon after sending the Hiten spacecraft. India launched an unmanned lunar orbiter last month.

—Xinhua
 
Its really great guys. It kinda shows what heights can be achieved with good leadership.

If we continue to be blessed with people like Kalam and Annadurai, nothing is out of our reach, be it in the social field, or in the scientific.

But a lot of the times, good, incorruptible leaders are pushed aside by the corrupt ones.

If we are to truly rise as a superpower, we have to do more to fight corruption.
 
Back
Top Bottom