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Nov 15, 2008 03:35 PM | 12
In the race to explore space, there may be a new moon on the rise. In the same week that NASA declared the Mars Phoenix mission over, India dropped an impactor, which crash-dived onto the moon's surface today, the Associated Press reports. The Moon Impactor Probe (MIP) was carried by India's moon satellite, Chandrayaan 1, which entered lunar orbit earlier this week.
The MIP, painted with the flag of India, was blown to smithereens after crashing into the moon at about 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) per hour. Before its planned crash, however, it sent photos and data that India will now use to plan a 2011 moon rover mission and a yet-unfunded manned mission. It was one of 11 instrument payloads on Chandrayaan 1, which means "moon craft" in Sanskrit.
India has now joined an elite group--the U.S., Russia, the European Space Agency, China, and Japan--that have sent missions to the moon.
Photo of a waxing gibbous moon by Kevin via Flickr
Tags:
india,
chandrayaan,
moon probe,
moon
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12 Comments
Add CommentI wonder how much they learned tht could not be found in 30 yer old library books?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDirty poor Indian politicians should be feeding their hungry instead of shooting rockets at the moon
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thistheory could be wrong .. like the earth was flat initially.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe title should probably read "Indian probe INTENTIONALLY crash-lands onto the moon" :D
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this@gambori - Feeding the hungry and exploring space are mutually exclusive and can be done simultaneously. Besides, the goal of India's space program is to become a source of income by sending up satellites for other countries. The moon mission is partly a "proof of technological capability" i.e. we may be poor and corrupt, but we're also smart and efficient.
Poor and corrupt does not equal efficient. It equals poor and corrupt.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGambori, I would really like to know if you are a Republican or Democrat?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMost of the comments display the disturbing xenophobia that too many Americans seem to harbor. We need to wake up to the fact that there are other nations out there that have as much right as we do to expand their technological knowledge and expertise.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm very interested to see and compare moon surface photos from the Indian probe and the NASA astronauts' photos. I truly believe that the American Moon landings were a hoax.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy question is: Is the Chandrayaan 1 going to make the return trip to earth?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHi there, my congratulations to the Indian people, in my opinion, there is a an important advance in the research and investigation that they have done, and if the politicians don't take the bad way, that will make some improvements in the technology fields and in the technology industry and that means less poverty and hungry.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm convinced that who the world need is to reinvent the wheel in many fields, specially the countries that don't own the technology, that's is experience and innovation.
Is there anyone out there that can convince me that the American moon landings were real? I say they were not and I dare anyone to challenge my evidence.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisApparently, you don't have evidence that the moon landings were a hoax, rtsinister. For every insignificant lie that you can find online and in some cases, books, there is ample evidence from others to refute it. Note that others does not consist of just NASA.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this