And for my Favorite shot of the solar/lunar eccllipse
This was what I was doing doing the solar eclipse
Tag Archive for 'moon'
A long haul for ISRO
T.S. Subramanian
Moon Impact Probe mission: they got it right the first time itself
CHENNAI: What was remarkable about the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) separating from Chandrayaan-1, its 25-minute descent and crash-landing on the moon’s surface was that “we were able to do everything for the first time and correctly too,” said J.N. Goswami, Principal Scientist, Chandrayaan-1 mission, on Saturday.
At 8.31 p.m. IST on Friday, India emphatically registered its presence on the moon when the MIP crash-landed on the Shackleton crater in the moon’s south polar region. The panels of the MIP, which is a box-like instrument, were painted with the Indian flag. After the MIP separated from the mother-spacecraft at 8.06.54 p.m., it followed a curved path for 25 minutes before it impacted on the moon and self-destructed. The MIP had three payloads: a video camera, a radar altimeter and a mass spectrometer. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has received enormous amount of data from these three payloads throughout the MIP’s flight.
“Whatever we did [during the MIP mission], we did for the first time and without anybody telling us how to do it,” said Dr. Goswami, who is also Director, Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad. ISRO was able to release it from Chandrayaan-1, spin it up, reduce its velocity of descent and then “approximately impact it at a point where we wanted to go,” he said. The 35-kg MIP, which was “a mini satellite of Chandrayaan-1” did everything it was expected to do. Its three instruments collected the data during its descent and transmitted them to the mother-spacecraft, which sent it to the ground. “We were doing something new and for the first time. That is why we have reasons to feel happy about whatever we have done,” Dr. Goswami said.
It has been a hectic journey not only for Chandrayaan-1 but a long haul for the ISRO. It was on November 21, 1963 that a Nike Apache rocket from the United States took off from the beachhead in the fishing village of Thumba near Thiruvananthapuram and climbed to an altitude of 208 km. The two-stage rocket weighed 715 kg.
The Nike Apache released sodium vapour which, with its orange trail, lit up the twilight sky. The sight created a sensation in Kerala and the neighbouring districts in Tamil Nadu. The Kerala Legislative Assembly was adjourned for a few minutes so that the members could watch the spectacle on the western sky. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, former President, was present at Thumba on that day and was in charge of Nike Apache’s payload.The launch signalled the start of India’s rocketry programme.
The indigenous space programme began on February 22, 1969, when a “pencil” rocket weighing 10 kg. from Thumba soared a few km. into the sky.
The Chandrayaan-1 has travelled 3,84,000 km to reach its final orbit of 100 km. above the moon. The PSLV-C11 that put it into its initial orbit around the earth stood 44.4 metres tall and weighed 316 tonnes.
M. Annadurai, Project Director, Chandrayaan-1, said: “Some decades ago, man never imagined that he could set foot on the moon. Decades from now, human colonies on the moon can become a reality. India also should be in the forefront of this challenging and exciting endeavour. Chandrayaan-1 is the first calculated and well-planned initiative by ISRO in this direction.”
So the next time you look at the moon…do think of india
Every now and then you see a head line which makes you go
“what the F”
Here is one
source : http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/1651.asp
India announces no manned lunar mission – like in Russia and America did Extraterrestrial UFOs tell India not to go to moon with humans on board?
According to the head of Indian Space Program G Madhavan Nair, Chairman of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), India has no plan to send human beings to moon. This is in direct contradiction to what ISRO and Government of India officials have been saying so far. Up till this time, media reports were very clear that for the sake of India’s pride and prestige, lunar mission was a must and India was looking forward to an accelerated schedule to land human beings on the moon.
The sudden reverse turn in India’s plan and action is interesting. According to many international space research think tanks, American and Russians were told by the Extraterrestrial world body of the Universe that they should not send any human beings to moon. Many even go to the extent of suggesting that Apollo 11 never landed on the moon. Some have suggested that Apollo 11 did land on the moon only to find UFOs and other advanced civilizations using moon as a space station.
ISRO announcement provides some light on the fact that there were several reports in the media that UFOs and Extraterrestrial civilizations were contacting Indian Government. Several UFO sightings still continue in the Himalayas region. There are also reports of underground UFO bases in Indo-China border areas.
India now plans an unmanned lunar mission. According to Mr.Nair the priorities have changed.
Since the Apollo missions, no country in the world has ventured into the moon or any where above the immediate atmosphere of the earth with human beings. Some point out hazards of radiation. Recently, President Bush has announced an American manned lunar mission in twenty years. Why should it take twenty years to go there if we human beings have already achieved the same thirty-five years back?
India will launch a two-year Lunar probe but has no plan to land a man or woman on moon in the near future. It is also looking for research institutes wanting to piggyback their scientific equipment on the Indian satellite, head of Indian Space Programme G Madhavan Nair, has said. Nair, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Space Commission, is in Brussels to attend two international space conferences and discuss India’s participation in the European Union’s satellite radio navigation programme, Galileo.
“India has no plans to land a man on the moon in the near future,” he told the India news in Europe program. Nair, who is also the Secretary of the Government’s Department of Space, said the agreement on Galileo was finalized a week ago.
“It will be signed in a few weeks time, either in New Delhi or Brussels,” he said adding during the agreement’s second phase “India will decide how much money it will invest in the project.”
Pointing out the major differences between India’s space program and that of other countries, he said, “Their applications are generally military or commercial, while in India they are aimed at improving the quality of life of the people, including the 75 per cent living in villages.”
Asked if the Indian space industry feared competition from China, Nair said, “There is nothing like that. They have their own program and we have ours. National priorities are set, and we work according to them.”
Stating that India’s space industry has a bright future, Nair said, “The greatest achievement of India’s space industry has been self-reliance. We are self-sufficient in weather and communication satellites.”
The Indian space industry, he said, was “as good as any other space industry in the world in terms of quality and cost effectiveness.”
Indeed, “European industries can find a lot of sources in India for the supply of parts, whether for aircraft, satellites or spacecraft.” He underlined the importance of cooperation in earth observation.
“Each country has its own space craft engaged in various kinds of missions. We should now look how the data can be meaningfully utilized,” he said. Nair said, “India is seriously considering establishing a tsunami warning system for the region, even though such destructive ocean waves are a very rare phenomenon in the Indian Ocean, whereas they occur almost every month in the Pacific Ocean.”
Thanks to its efficient communication channels, “India distributed its satellite data to Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia the very next day after the tsunami struck on December 26,” he said.
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