The far side images of moon captured by Chandrayaan 1 is released on ISRO’s website. Click the thumbnail images below to download it on your computer.
ISRO Chairman Mr. G. Madhavan Nair meet the press people yesterday at the Airport. He said that all the major operations related to Chandrayaan 1 Mission is completed. 9 of 11 payloads has been successfully turned on. The remaining two payloads will be activated this week.
The two science instruments of the U.S. aboard the spacecraft had become operational and they would start sending data within a week. He also said that everything is going as planned.
Mr. Nair said that with the terrain mapping camera of the Moon Impact Probe (MIP), stereoscopic pictures of the moon would be available, which, in turn, would help to have a better understanding of the height and shape of craters on the lunar surface.
“We are the only country to obtain pictures from such a closer distance. We have got pictures with a resolution of five metres followed by a Japanese probe which secured pictures only with a resolution of 10 metres,” he said.Mr. Nair said the ISRO was planning to launch Chandrayaan-2 in 2012, a mission in which a robot would be sent to collect samples from the lunar surface and conduct tests. In 2015, it would conduct a spacewalk and the man mission to the Moon would be launched only after it. After completing the Chandrayaan series, the ISRO would be going in for a mission to Mars and the steps for it had started. A blueprint of this project was expected to be out only after four or five years, he added.
The following two pictures has been released by ISRO, which was taken by the Moon Impact Probe.
The above images are light weight JPEG Images. If you want the orginal BMP images (large file size), use the below links:
In a historic event, the Indian space programme achieved a unique feat today (November 14, 2008) with the placing of Indian tricolour on the Moon’s surface on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday. The Indian flag was painted on the sides of Moon Impact Probe (MIP), one of the 11 payloads of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, that successfully hit the lunar surface today at 20:31 hrs (8:31 pm) IST. This is the first Indian built object to reach the surface of the moon. The point of MIP’s impact was near the Moon’s South Polar Region. It may be recalled that the modern Indian space programme was initiated in 1962 when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister of India.
Weighing 34 kg at the time of its launch onboard Chandrayaan-1, the box shaped MIP carried three instruments – 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 as MIP approached it. The radar altimeter was included to measure the rate of descent of the probe to the lunar surface. Such instruments are necessary for future lunar soft landing missions. And, the mass spectrometer was for studying the extremely thin lunar atmosphere.
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.
Thus, India’s very first attempt to send a probe to the moon’s surface from its spacecraft orbiting the moon has been successfully concluded.
With the switching ON of two of Chandrayaan-1’s payloads – Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC) and Radiation Dose Monitor (RADOM) – on its journey to moon and with MIP’s successful impact on the lunar surface today, it is planned to switch ON and test the remaining eight payloads of the spacecraft in the coming few days.
Courtesy: ISRO (http://www.isro.gov.in/)
Today (14/08/2008), India become the fourth country to have it’s flag on Moon Surface. Chandrayaan-1′s Moon Impact Probe device was eject from Chandrayaan 1 Spacecraft, which has hitted the moon’s surface. MIP has Indian Tricolour painted on it’s sides.
The 35-kilo payload crash-landed on the lunar surface at around 2030 hrs IST. The MIP has started sending its first signals to the satellite.
It also contains equipment which will help scientists design a lunar lander or rover for the upcoming Chandrayaan-2 mission.
There’s a lot tucked away inside the MIP. There’s a device to constantly check its height as it falls, another to check what the air on the moon is made of and even a video camera to photograph the moon from close range.
The MIP disconnected from Chandrayaan at 100 km from the moon. As it fell, it kept sending information back to the satellite.
Closer to the surface, rockets were fired to slow down its speed and soften impact.
After 30 min of free fall, the MIP crash-landed on the south pole of moon. The first three countries were USA, Russia and Japan. By this, China has been overtaken by India in Moon Exploration.
Jai Hind!..
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