November 14, 2008

Congratulations India - Chandrayaan Lunar Probe lands successfully

This is awesome -- from New Delhi Television (NDTV):
India makes history, launches Tricolour on moon
India marked its presence on Moon tonight to be only the fourth nation to scale this historic milestone after a Moon Impact Probe with the national tri-colour painted successfully landed on the lunar surface after being detached from unmanned spacecraft Chandrayaan-1.

Joining the US, the erstwhile Soviet Union and the European Union, the 35-kg Moon Impact Probe(MIP) hit the moon exactly at 8.31 PM, about 25 minutes after the probe instrument descended from the satellite in what ISRO described as a "perfect operation".

Miniature Indian flags painted on four sides of the MIP signalled the country's symbolic entry into moon to coincide with the birth anniversary of the country's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, observed as Children's Day.

"It will signify the entry of India on Moon," an ISRO official said. The MIP is one of the 11 scientific instruments (payloads) onboard Chandrayaan-1, India's first unmanned spacecraft mission to Moon launched on October 22 from Sriharikota spaceport.
It was not a soft landing, it was an impact probe but it did exactly what it was supposed to do and all of the instrumentation is working just fine. Hat tip to Slashdot for the link to this excellent news! Posted by DaveH at November 14, 2008 5:39 PM | TrackBack
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