| Indian lunar probe hits Moon |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Saturday, 15 November 2008 | |
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The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) announced that its first lunar probe—the Moon Impact Probe (MIP)—detached from the larger unmanned Chandrayaan-1 ("Moon Vehicle-1") about 100 kilometers (62 miles) above the Moon’s surface. It descended toward the Moon’s surface for about 25 minutes. During this time it sent back to Earth a series of images about the Moon’s thin atmosphere and dusty surface. It then made a successful crash (“hard”) landing onto the south polar surface of the Moon as part of a two-year lunar exploratory mission for the Chandrayaan-1 orbital craft. The probe was undoubtedly destroyed when it hit the surface. The MIP landed at 10:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on Friday, November 14, 2008. The video imaging system of the probe had already transmitted images back to the Indian control center through a feed within the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. According to S.K. Shivakumar, who is the director of the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network, stated, “It was a flawless operation.” [Reuter’s: “India's lunar probe lands on the moon, sends images”] Page two continues with the MIP/Chandrayaan-1 story. |
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