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Aug 31, 2009 01:46 PM | 5
The Indian space program joined an elite group last year when its first lunar probe entered orbit around the moon and began taking detailed observations. But the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) lost radio contact this weekend with the probe, Chandrayaan 1, and the mission came to an abrupt end after communications could not be reestablished.
"Our efforts to establish contact have failed. The mission has been terminated," ISRO spokesperson S. Satish told Reuters. "There was no point continuing with the mission."
Chandrayaan 1 was nearing the halfway point of its planned two-year mission. The probe carried a suite of instruments from across the globe, including two from NASA: a radar that scanned the interiors of permanently darkened craters and a spectrometer to map the mineral composition of the surface.
Satish told the Associated Press that the spacecraft had accomplished the bulk of its objectives, and indeed, NASA's radar had already mapped 90 percent of the moon's poles by June.
Among the many Indian instruments on Chadrayaan 1 was an impactor that the spacecraft dropped to the surface in November. The impactor probe photographed the moon's surface and measured the lunar atmosphere as it descended to a planned high-speed crash-landing.
For nearly two weeks earlier this year, Chandrayaan 1 had the moon to itself—Japan's Kaguya spacecraft met its planned end June 10, and NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter did not reach lunar orbit until June 23.
Photograph of Earth from Chandrayaan 1's lunar orbit during the solar eclipse of July 22: NASA
Tags:
lunar probes,
ISRO,
international cooperation,
space exploration
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5 Comments
Add CommentSee what happens when you go India! Software, helpdesk, call centers, all of it... they are not the same as the good old usa!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEvery technology suffers failures, glitches, snags in beginning...you need refinements to perfect it. Why don't you read history of America's Space Programe and familiarize yourself with Apollo 1 tragedy, Apollo 13, Mars Missions.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisChandrayaan's 10 month long mission seems credible in that comparison.
What's more; even established,highly developed, time tested, reliable, fail proof technology can fail at times .....remember Columbia and Challenger ?
Indian Moon: sounds like a Duke Ellington composition.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRobotic missions are best but definitely not as sexy as manned missions. And manned missions make more hearts beat patriotic than nuts and bolts.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thischeck out:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.chandrayaan-i.com/chandrayaan1/photogallary.html
What about cryogenic experiments on the poles of the moon to improve transportation on earth? Superconductivity research comes to mind for designing drives and actuators that could exchange kinetic energy and potential energy on demand with minimized transitional losses.