India's Moon shot takes to the skies
Successful launch of Chandrayaan-1
India's Moon probe Chandrayaan-1 this morning successfully launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, the Indian Space Research Organisation reports.
The $83m mission, carrying a multinational array of kit, was carried aloft atop a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle at 06:22 Indian Standard Time (00:52 GMT).
Chandrayaan-1's principal science objective is to "conduct mineralogical and chemical mapping of the lunar surface", for which it's carrying eleven science payloads - six homegrown and five contributed by international partners. India's instruments include the Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC), designed to "map topography in both near and far side of the Moon and prepare a three-dimensional atlas with high spatial and altitude resolution"; the Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI) ("to provide ranging data for determining accurate altitude of the spacecraft above the lunar surface"); and the High Energy X-ray Spectrometer (HEX), which is described as "the first experiment to carry out spectral studies of planetary surface at hard X-ray energies using good energy resolution detectors".
NASA's contribution encompasses the Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar (Mini-SAR) - designed to "detect water ice in the permanently shadowed regions on the lunar poles" - and the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), tasked with mapping "lunar surface mineralogy in the context of lunar geologic evolution".
The European Space Agency, meanwhile, is on board with three instruments, including the Sub keV Atom Reflecting Analyser (SARA), which will apparently "image the Moon's surface using low energy neutral atoms as diagnostics".
When it finally arrives at the Moon, Chandrayaan-1 will settle into orbit at an altitude of 100 km for its two-year mission. Among the first tasks on the agenda is the deployment of the 29kg Moon Impact Probe (MIP) which "will be ejected from Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft at the earliest opportunity to hit the lunar surface in a chosen area". ®
COMMENTS
@John Sinclair
I expected the debates on whether a poor country like India should spend so much on the Moon launch. All the people made interesting points, but your post was particularly tangential.
I do not know the reason why you have brought up the caste issue here. For your information, now the govt. has sanctioned nearly 50% of college seats for the "lower caste", they have substantially lower fees, age limits are higher and minimum requirements for the jobs are lower. Yes, it is a problem and people are trying to fight it. Of course, it takes time. I write "lower caste" in quotes because the people who avail this are economically well off and the really deserving ones do not get the benefits.
Regarding the rest of your illogical post, "evil Hindu religion"?!! come on, its too puerile. We all know here the evils perpetrated in the name of religion.
Regarding the rape and murder in Goa, the tourists themselves head toward the spot for the drug haven that it is. surely you do not expect preaching there, do you? you have to be careful while dealing with drug dealers, or is it safer there in the UK? also, a mother sending her 16 year old daughter to these places is equally culpable as the murderer.
"Sick society with sick priorities", oh come on. even the usual whiners about outsourcing would give us more credit than that....
Usual disclaimer: Indian, in India and yes by birth a "Brahmin". Needless to say, I do not like this casteism any more than you do.
However, how does all of this link with the space launch?
Whine whine
Way to go.... from being the world's biggest empire with a navy that ruled to ocean to a bunch of whiny little muppets. What has your nation done recently to inspire its young to study science and technology ? You folks have no clue that UK-India trade and investment exceed your precious bundle of aid by 100X .
There's a British-built payload aboard that 'scandalous waste of money'. Funny no one complains about that. Maybe you ought to drive to Oxfordshire and protest in front of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory: http://www.sstd.rl.ac.uk/c1xs
Not Anonymous John
I don't think anyone gives a damn about what the Indian state spends its ill gotten gains on "Anonymous John" but as "Rusty...." says we do worry what they spend OUR money on. Until India stops allowing murders of poor people who really don't want to be stuck in the lowest caste all their days and all the other nonsense perpetrated in the name of that evil hindu religion the West should give not one penny to them. They have signed the rights of man, and wmoan, enshrined in the UN charter, I have seen the actual signatures, but they haven't enacted them. "Anonymous John" should hang his head in shame or does he have a daughter we can send them to rape and murder on the beach and not be charged for because the people doing the crime are high caste members? India is a sick society with sick priorities and the horror of it is very very few of the brahmins see anything wrong in what they do. Ask Paris Hilton she knows all about it.
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