Many folks would like to see us back on the Moon and developing its resources.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Indian scientists detect water on Moon

Time has passed since the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) landed on the Moon November 14, 2008.
The Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft ended its mission on 28 August 2009 and now we are hearing about the results.
- LRK -

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081117132956.htm
India's Chandrayaan-1 Spacecraft Successful: Moon Impact Probe Hits Lunar Surface

ScienceDaily (Nov. 17, 2008) — In a historic event, the Indian space programme achieved a unique feat on Friday (November 14, 2008) with the placing of Indian tricolour on the Moon’s surface on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday. The Indian flag was painted on the sides of Moon Impact Probe (MIP), one of the 11 payloads of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, that successfully hit the lunar surface at 20:31 hrs (8:31 pm) IST.

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MIP’s 25 minute journey to the lunar surface began with its separation from Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft at 20:06 hrs (8:06 pm) IST. This was followed by a series of automatic operations that began with the firing of its spin up rockets after achieving a safe distance of separation from Chandrayaan-1. Later, the probe slowed down with the firing of its retro rocket and started its rapid descent towards the moon’s surface. Information from the its instruments was radioed to Chandrayaan-1 by MIP. The spacecraft recorded this in its onboard memory for later readout. Finally, the probe had a hard landing on the lunar surface that terminated its functioning.

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The Chandrayan-1 moon mission - discussion group is commenting on why it took so long for the word to get out that MIP had seen indications of water when in crashed into the Moon back in November 2008. This is the link they are talking about.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/ISRO-found-water-on-moon-10-months-ago/articleshow/5057854.cms
ISRO found water on moon 10 months ago
Prashanth G N, TNN 26 September 2009, 01:00am IST
- LRK -

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Chandrayan-1 moon mission - discussion group
http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4395&start=1680&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/ISRO-found-water-on-moon-10-months-ago/articleshow/5057854.cms
quote
ISRO found water on moon 10 months ago

BANGALORE: Indian Space Research Organisation may have stolen the thunder of discovering water on the Moon.

The Moon Impact Probe on Chandrayaan-I appears to have sensed water earlier than Nasa's Moon Minerolgy Mapper (M3) but protocol did not allow ISRO to declare the discovery. While MIP detected water molecules on November 14, 2008, just 22 days after Chandrayaan-1's launch, M3 did so in March 2009.

J S Goswami, principal investigator for Chandrayaan-1, told TOI: ``We had indications of water on November 14, the day MIP crash-landed on the Moon. It sensed some sort of water molecules. We were absolutely delighted but it had to be corroborated. Without international examination and cross-examination and confirmation of the evidence, it would not have been right on our part to go public about it.''

Mylswami Annadurai, project director, Chandrayaan-1 and 2, explained why India did not go public with the discovery. ``International protocol requires us to discuss the evidence, cross-calibrate it with experts and it goes through a peer review and gets their approval. After all this, if it's a credible finding comes the go-ahead for its publication. This process can take three to four months, sometimes even seven. Only after publication can we speak about the evidence.''

ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair said the MIP showed indications as it was crash-landing - it caught signatures of water. ``As the MIP was landing, it took some pictures that indicated the water molecules eventually found by M3.''

The MIP had picked up strong signals of water particles towards the polar region from 70 degree latitude to 80 degree latitude, according to Goswami. While this was known in November 2008, the M3 discovery of water in March 2009 was confirmed only three months later ^ in June. That's because US scientists wanted to be sure they had indeed found water and it took three months of rigorous cross-examination to confirm it. Publication after the confirmation also took time.

Officials said India scientists waited all this while to make the discovery public as they wanted the findings of such global significance to be first published in a scientific journal.
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More information and pictures at MSN.
- LRK -

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http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3242164&page=0
25/09/2009

India's own MIP detects water on moon: Nair, NASA thanks ISRO

Bangalore/Washington: India's own Moon Impact Probe (MIP) on board the country's maiden unmanned lunar craft had also detected evidence of water on the moon in a finding confirmed by US space agency NASA which too had an instrument onboard Chandrayaan-I.

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The NASA meanwhile thanked ISRO for enabling the discovery of water on Moon through Chandrayaan-I.

"We want to thank ISRO for making the discovery possible. Moon till now was thought to be a very dry surface with lot of rocks," NASA director Jim Green told reporters in Washington.

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In Bangalore, a beaming ISRO Chief G. Madhavan Nair said the MIP while descending from Chandrayaan-I to the moon surface about a fortnight after it was launched in October picked up strong signals of water particles. Nair's remark has triggered speculation whether an Indian space mission was the first to discover water on Moon.

"Our Chandrayaan I has confirmed the presence of water molecules on the moon," he said.

Nair said "while the moon impact probe landed, it took nearly 25 minutes. It took some pictures that indicated these water molecules. Another instrument HYS1 to map minerals also helped NASA'S M3 in finding water."

Apart from India's MIP, the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) of NASA on board Chandrayaan-I also confirmed the presence of water, he said. The "quantity found is much larger than what was expected which is a real finding", he added.

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ISRO Principal Scientist J P Goswami said the MIP had picked up strong signals of water particles towards polar region from 70 degree latitude to 80 degree latitudes.

The scientists, he said, significantly had indications of the finding "way back in June" but waited all these days to make it public as they wanted the findings of such a global significance to come out in a scientific journal first.

"This surprising finding(water on moon) has come about through the ingenuity, perseverance and international cooperation between NASA and the India Space Research Organisation," Green said.

"We had indication way back in June but we did not want to announce it for the simple reason it had global significance and had to come out in a well established journal," Nair said.

The announcement of the finding has been timed with publication of the article in a journal.

"We have found signature on surface of water not in the form of sea, lake or even a poodle or even a drop you cannot pick it up just like that. It is embedded in surface in mineral and rock and we have clear indication OH and H20 are there on surface may be least for a few millimetre. The quantity was much larger than what was expeced, this is real finding", he said.

According to Goswami, whether there was water down below, the data got from the instruments were still being analysed.

"We have to wait for a while", he said. "Once we have solid results, we will talk to you at the point", he said.

"This is the first time in space research that (presence of) water is confirmed," he said, adding "we have contributed to significant discovery of water on the moon through the Chandrayaan."

Terming it "path breaking discovery" he said, it has "shattered the thought that the moon was bone dry.
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Some graphics for the briefing.
- LRK -

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http://www.isro.org/news/pdf/ISRO-PRESS-BRIEFING.pdf [9 page PDF file - 2.44 MB]
Chandrayaan -1
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More information on the instruments carried on Chandrayaan-1
- LRK -

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http://www.isro.org/Chandrayaan/htmls/psexperiments.htm
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MIP http://www.isro.org/Chandrayaan/htmls/mip.htm
Moon Impact Probe (MIP) as piggyback on the main orbiter of the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, which will impact on the surface of the moon.
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Next hopefully will be India's rover to the Moon with Chandrayaan-2 in 2013
- LRK -

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http://www.chandrayaan-i.com/index.php/chandrayaan-2.html
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What is Chandrayaan-2

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning 2nd moon mission Chandrayaan-2 in 2013. Russia's Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) is joining with ISRO for development of Chandrayaan-2 Lander/Rover.

Chandrayaan-2 will consist of the spacecraft and a landing platform with the moon rover.

The rover would move on wheels on the lunar surface, pick up samples of soil or rocks, do a chemical analysis and send the data to the spacecraft orbiting above.

The rover will weigh between 30 kg and 100 kg, depending on whether it is to do a semi-hard landing or soft landing. The rover will have an operating life-span of a month. It will run predominantly on solar power.
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Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrayaan-1
Chandrayaan-1
(Sanskrit: चंद्रयान-१, lit: moon-traveller, or moon vehicle[3][4] About this sound pronunciation (help·info)) was India's first unmanned lunar probe. It was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation in October 2008, and operated until August 2009. The mission included a lunar orbiter and an impactor. India launched the spacecraft by a modified version of the PSLV, PSLV C11[2][5] on 22 October 2008 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Nellore District, Andhra Pradesh, about 80 km north of Chennai, at 06:22 IST (00:52 UTC).[6] The mission was a major boost to India's space program,[7] as India researched and developed its own technology in order to explore the Moon.[8] The vehicle was successfully inserted into lunar orbit on 8 November 2008.[9]

On 14 November 2008, the Moon Impact Probe separated from the Chandrayaan orbiter at 20:06 and struck the south pole in a controlled manner, making India the fourth country to place its flag on the Moon.[10] The probe impacted near Shackleton Crater at 20:31 ejecting underground soil that could be analysed for the presence of lunar water ice.[11]

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http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_indian-scientists-detect-signs-of-life-on-moon_1322785
Indian scientists detect signs of life on Moon

Bhargavi Kerur / DNA - Saturday, December 12, 2009 1:48 IST
Bangalore: Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) are on the brink of a path-breaking discovery. They may have found signs of life in some form or the other on the Moon.

They believe so because scientific instruments on India's first unmanned lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, picked up signatures of organic matter on parts of the Moon's surface, Surendra Pal, associate director, Isro Satellite Centre (Isac), said at the international radar symposium here on Friday.

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http://www.bautforum.com/space-exploration/98025-indian-scientists-detect-signs-life-moon.html
Bad Astronomy and Universe Today Forum

Question Indian scientists detect signs of life on Moon
http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/repo...n-moon_1322785
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Quote:
Bangalore: Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) are on the brink of a path-breaking discovery. They may have found signs of life in some form or the other on the Moon.

They believe so because scientific instruments on India's first unmanned lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, picked up signatures of organic matter on parts of the Moon's surface, Surendra Pal, associate director, Isro Satellite Centre (Isac), said at the international radar symposium here on Friday.
End Quote.
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Saw this on another forum, wasn't brought up on a search.
Reading through the article, it seems they base this off of readings of carbon and amino acids on the moon. Which, from what I understand of space, isn't so surprising, as both are found in space, without being tied to life.

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http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=2008-052A
NSSDC ID: 2008-052A

The Indian Space Research Organization announced on 31 August that the Chandrayaan 1 mission has been officially terminated after contact was lost abruptly at 20:00 UT on 28 August. (2009)

Chandrayaan-1 is an Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) mission designed to orbit the Moon over a two year period with the objectives of upgrading and testing India's technological capabilities in space and returning scientific information on the lunar surface. The spacecraft bus is roughly a 1.5 meter cube with a dry weight of 523 kg (Launch mass of the system, including its Lunar Apogee Motor, LAM, is 1380 kg). It is based on the Kalpansat meteorological satellite. Power is provided by a solar array which generates 750 W and charges lithium ion batteries. A bipropellant propulsion system is used to transfer Chandrayaan-1 into lunar orbit and maintain attitude. The spacecraft is 3-axis stabilized using attitude control thrusters and reaction wheels. Knowledge is provided by star sensors, accelerometers, and an inertial reference unit. Telecommand communications will be in S-band and science data transmission in X-band.

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Chandrayaan-1 will also carry a 35 kg Moon Impact Probe (MIP) designed to be released from the spacecraft and hit the lunar surface. The MIP carried a video camera, a radar altimeter, and a mass spectrometer. The side panels of the box-like probe were painted with the Indian
flag.

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http://www.isro.org/Chandrayaan/htmls/mission_sequence.htm
Mission Sequence

* Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR, Sriharikota by PSLV-XL (PSLV-C11) on 22 October 2008 at 06:22 hrs IST in an highly elliptical initial orbit (IO) with perigee (nearest point to the Earth) of 255 km and an apogee (farthest point from the Earth) of 22,860 km, inclined at an angle of 17.9 deg to the equator. In this initial orbit, Chandrayaan orbited the Earth once in about six and a half hours.

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* On 14 November at 20:06 hrs IST, the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) was ejected from the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft and hard landed on the lunar surface near the South Polar Region at 20:31 hrs IST after 25 minutes journey. It placed the Indian tricolour, which was pasted on the sides of MIP on the Moon.
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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