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Showing posts with the label moon impact probe

Chandrayaan's moon impact photos to be released soon

New Delhi: It is a set of pictures that is among the most anticipated in India - around 3,200 frames tracking the descent of the first-ever Indian-built device to the moon's surface. But the Indian public may have to wait for some more time to take a peek at that journey. The images were taken by the 35-kg Moon Impact Probe (MIP) as it hurtled down for nearly 25 minutes after detaching from India's maiden lunar probe Chandrayaan-I and landed on the lunar surface at 8.31 p.m. Nov 14. That day, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had released two photos of the pockmarked surface taken from MIP. Nothing after that. According to a key Chandrayaan scientist, it is now a matter of waiting a bit more - though he still could not specify the date. "While we have released some sample images already, the full set of 3,200 pictures will also be made public after some more time," A.S. Kiran Kumar, deputy director, sensor development area in ISRO's Ahmedabad-based Spa...

India on the moon, with tricolour

Bangalore: India on Friday became the fourth country in the world to land a man-made object on the lunar surface when its moon impact probe (MIP), with the tricolour painted on it, landed on the earth's only natural satellite at 8.31 p.m. after ejecting from the Chandrayaan-I spacecraft. The MIP impacted on the moon's surface 25 minutes after it was separated from Chandrayaan at 8.06 p.m., orbiting at 100 km above. "We have given the moon to India. We have successfully placed our national flag on the lunar surface. In this auspicious month of Karthika, the moon has been very favourable to us," a beaming G. Madhavan Nair, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), announced amidst thunderous applause by space scientists and officials. To savour the historic event, former president and rocket scientist A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and former ISRO chairman U.R. Rao were present at the space agency's telemetry, tracking and command network (Istrac) on the outski...