William Atkins
Saturday, 15 November 2008 02:44
Science -
Space
Page 1 of 2
The first unmanned lunar probe by India was ejected from its mother ship and has now made a controlled and successful crash landing on the Moon: Friday, November 14, 2008.
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.
