Saturday, November 15, 2008

Chandrayaan1- Images from Moon Impact Probe

Continuing with my earlier post of ‘Indian Flag on Moon – Mission Chandrayaan-1 Successful’, here are couple of close up pictures of Moon’s surface taken by Moon Impact Probe  (MIP) on 14th Nov 2008 as it approached it after separating from Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft.

The Indian flag was painted on the sides of MIP, one of the 11 payloads of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, that successfully hit the lunar surface.

VIS_2904

VIS_2936

These two are close up pictures of the moon's surface taken by Moon Impact Probe (MIP) on November 14, 2008 as it approached it after separating from Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. Please note that these pictures are reproduced as received. Image courtesy : ISRO

“MIP’s 25 minute journey to the lunar surface began with its separation from Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft at 20:06 hrs (8:06 pm) IST. This was followed by a series of automatic operations that began with the firing of its spin up rockets after achieving a safe distance of separation from Chandrayaan-1. Later, the probe slowed down with the firing of its retro rocket and started its rapid descent towards the moon’s surface. Information from the its instruments was radioed to Chandrayaan-1 by MIP. The spacecraft recorded this in its onboard memory for later readout. Finally, the probe had a hard landing on the lunar surface that terminated its functioning.”

I am posting these on my blog deviating from my regular posts as this is a Big achievement and majority of countries have not achieved this in its first  attempt. Well Done India !! Congrats to all Scientists!!

No comments: