2008-11-15 15:44:16

India's first lunar probe lands sends back images


(November 15, 2008) India becomes the sixth country in the world to reach the Moon, after America, Russia, European Space Agency, Japan and China. The first lunar probe from India landed successfully on the moon Friday around 8.30 pm, as part of a two-year mission aimed at laying the groundwork for further Indian space expeditions, the Indian Space Research Organization said. The tricolour was painted on all sides of the 29 kg Moon Impact Probe (MIP) which was attached to the top portion of the main lunar orbiter, Chandrayaan. ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair said cameras on board have been transmitting images of the moon back to Indian space control. Chief among the lunar mission's goals is mapping not only the surface of the moon, but what lies beneath. If successful, India will join what is shaping up to be a 21st century space race with Chinese and Japanese crafts already in orbit around the moon. The unmanned moon mission was launched from the Sriharikota space centre in southern India on Oct. 22. The box-shaped lunar probe carried a video imaging system, a radar altimeter and a mass spectrometer. The video imaging system was intended to take the pictures of the moon's surface, the radar altimeter was to measure the rate of descent of the probe to the lunar surface and the mass spectrometer was for studying the extremely thin lunar atmosphere. The Moon Impact Probe was one of the 11 payloads of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, a space agency statement said. To date only the U.S., Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and China _ and now India _ have sent missions to the moon. The moon mission comes just months after India finalized a deal with the United States that recognizes India as a nuclear power, and leaders hop the mission will further enhance its prestige. India plans to follow this mission with landing a rover on the moon in 2011 and, eventually, a manned space program, though this has not been authorized yet.







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