Two more Chandrayaan instruments to be activated in the middle of December

Two of the 10 remaining scientific instruments onboard India’s first unmanned lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 will be activated in mid-December for conducting experiments.
The sub-kiloelectronvolt (keV) atom reflecting analyser (SARA) and the high-energy x-ray spectrometer (HEX) are scheduled to be activated in mid-December as they need favourable condition from the sun angle. The remaining eight payloads have been energised and are functioning well.
Of the 11 payloads, the moon impact probe (MIP) was successfully lowered onto the lunar surface Nov 14 with excellent results. The other eight instruments are – mini synthetic aperture radar (MiniSAR), moon mineralogy mapper (M3), radiation dose monitor (RADOM), terrain mapping camera (TMC), hyper-spectral imager (HySI), lunar laser ranging instrument (LLRI), imaging x-ray spectrometer (C1XS) and smart near infrared spectrometer (SIR-2).
The MIP camera took about 3,000 images during its 25-minute descent. Some of the images include the ridge of the Shackleton crater and a vivid picture of the field where the probe crash-landed, thus confirming the execution was precise and at the designated place. They are a valuable catch.
The data, received from the mother spacecraft at the deep space network (DSN) at Byalalu, about 40 km from Bangalore, is being caliberated and studied by ISRO scientists.The data is so voluminous that it will take three months to analyse by our experts. The third instrument – the c-band altimeter gave the trajectory of the descent and confirmed whatever we have done was on target. The MIP experiment is unique as the Chinese and Japanese lunar missions did not have such a one.

New pictures from Chandrayaan 1 : Get them now!

The increase in temperature of Chandrayaan 1 Spacecraft is a slight set back for the mission. But, ISRO is hopeful of overcoming it by Mid-January 2009.

I present to you the latest pictures from Chandrayaan 1:(Click for full view)

Watch Videos about Chandrayaan on my YouTube Channel

Watch all the Videos about Chandrayaan on my YouTube Channel. To view my YouTube Channel, go to : http://in.youtube.com/user/manirajmj

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Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument on Chandrayaan 1 turned on successfully

Another successful day for Indian Space Research Organisation. The Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument, which is onboard in Chandrayaan 1 Spacecraft, is successfully turned on as per the commands from the control centre. The instrument was switched on when the spacecraft was passing through the western visible hemisphere of the moon. Preminilary evalution of the data from LLRI, ISRO scientist has confirmed the normal working of the instrument.

LLRI sends pulses of infrared laser light towards a strip of lunar surface and detects the reflected portion of that light. With this, the instrument can very accurately measure the height of moon’s surface features. LLRI will be continuously kept ON and takes 10 measurements per second on both day and night sides of the moon. It provides topographical details of both polar and equatorial regions of the moon. Detailed analysis of the data sent by LLRI helps in understanding the internal structure of the moon as well as the way that celestial body evolved.

Two days before, on November 14th 2008, India announced it’s presence on moon by the successful job done by the Moon Impact Probe. China, which is one of India’s greatest rival has not planted any National Flag on moon’s surface. This is a great moment for the country. Super Powers like US and Russia has virtually failed on their first attempt. But, We have succeed in our first attempt to the outer space.

For Chandrayaan 1 Full Gallery, Click here

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For the pictures  taken by Moon Impact Probe, Click here

Pictures of Moon’s surface taken by MIP

The following two pictures has been released by ISRO, which was taken by the Moon Impact Probe.

Source: Indian Space Research Organisation

Source: Indian Space Research Organisation

The above images are light weight JPEG Images. If you want the orginal BMP images (large file size), use the below links:

Moon Impact Probe Picture 1

Moon Impact Probe Picture 2