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India's first lunar probe lands, sends back images
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-15 15:01 NEW DELHI -- The first lunar probe from India landed successfully on the moon Friday as part of a two-year mission aimed at laying the groundwork for further Indian space expeditions, the Indian Space Research Organization said.
ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair said cameras on board have been transmitting images of the moon back to Indian space control, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Chief among the lunar mission's goals is mapping not only the surface of the moon, but what lies beneath. The video imaging system was intended to take the pictures of the moon's surface, the radar altimeter was to measure the rate of descent of the probe to the lunar surface and the mass spectrometer was for studying the extremely thin lunar atmosphere. The Moon Impact Probe was one of the 11 payloads of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, a space agency statement said. To date only the US, Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and China, and now India, have sent missions to the moon. As India's economy has boomed in recent years, it has sought to convert its newfound wealth, built on the nation's high-tech sector, into political and military clout. The moon mission comes just months after India finalized a deal with the United States that recognizes India as a nuclear power, and leaders hop the mission will further enhance its prestige. India plans to follow this mission with landing a rover on the moon in 2011 and, eventually, a manned space program, though this has not been authorized yet. |
