India’s flag smashes into the moon - November 14, 2008
Posted on behalf of Ashley Yeager
The tricolour of India became only the fourth flag to reach the moon when Chandrayaan-1’s Moon Impact Probe crashed into the lunar surface today.
Joining the flags of the US, the former Soviet Union and the European Union, India’s own was painted in miniature on each side of the 35-kilogram probe that impacted the Moon 25 minutes after being launched from Chandrayaan 1.
The Indian Space Research Organization described the event a “perfect operation,” according to the Times of India. The Indian-built probe now resides in a crater at the Moon's south pole, and its three instruments will be used to test the technologies necessary for future landing missions.
Remaining aboard Chandrayaan-1 are ten other instruments that mission scientists will begin to bring online as India's first unmanned spacecraft mission to the Moon continues. The spacecraft launched on October 22 and is on a two-year orbital mission to provide a detailed map of the topographical, mineral, and chemical features of the Moon's surface.
Comments
The success of Chandraayan launch will mark a milestone in Indian Space Research for which it will make an indelible mark in its future positive explorations.
Americans may have landed manned missions to the moon, but Indians have landed a successful opportunity on the white plant that will be more remembered by humanity to come.
Well done, India!
Posted by: Amit Kheradia | November 17, 2008 01:20 AM
Five decades after the unmanned Soviet probe Luna 2 landed on the lunar surface in 1959, and as many as four decades after the US’s Neil Armstrong planted his boot on the Moon in 1969, India’s Chandrayaan-1 has ventured into the skies to get a load of the Moon. This makes India only the second Asian nation after Japan to send a satellite to orbit the Moon. No doubt, a fantastic feat… a giant leap forward. With an annual budget of about $1bn which is less than a tenth of Nasa's, the Isro has sure proved where there’s will there’s a way.
Posted by: Rosy Mishra | November 18, 2008 06:59 PM