Moon Impact Probe

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Moon Impact Probe being integrated with Chandrayaan-1 orbiter Chandrayaan-1-MIP1.jpg
Moon Impact Probe being integrated with Chandrayaan-1 orbiter
Moon Impact Probe being worked on before integration with orbiter Chandrayaan-1-MIP2.jpg
Moon Impact Probe being worked on before integration with orbiter

The Moon Impact Probe (MIP) developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India's national space agency, was a lunar probe that was released by ISRO's Chandrayaan-1 lunar remote sensing orbiter which in turn was launched, on 22 October 2008, aboard a modified version of ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. It discovered the presence of water on the Moon. [1] [2]

Contents

The Moon Impact Probe separated from the Moon-orbiting Chandrayaan-1 on 14 November 2008, 14:36:54 UTC and after nearly 25 minutes hard landed as planned, near the rim of Shackleton Crater. [3] [4] [5] With this mission, ISRO became the fifth national space agency to reach the lunar surface. Other nations whose national space agencies to have done so prior were the former Soviet Union in 1959, [6] the United States in 1962, [7] [8] Japan in 1993, [9] and ESA member states in 2006. [10] [11] [12]

History

The probe was a product of former President Abdul Kalam's suggestion [13] who felt that since the Chandrayaan orbiter was already going so near to the Moon, the mission would have more scientific relevance if the probe was included. He believed that the Moon could not be left to a few countries and that India should not be left behind [14] The Times of India also reported a political motive by former president Abdul Kalam as "He believed that if this was done, India could always stake a claim to a portion of the Moon." [11] At the same time, The Indian Express reported Kalam as saying "no nation can claim the Moon as its own. The resources of the Moon should be a common property and that is one of the aims of the Moon mission." [15]

Mission objectives

The main objectives of the MIP were to demonstrate the technologies for reaching a specified location on the Moon, qualifying technologies required for any future soft landing missions, and scientific exploration of the Moon from close range just prior to the impact. [16] [17] [18]

Configuration and payloads

The MIP carried three instruments: [19]

The probe used aluminium-honeycomb sandwich structure onto which the payloads were mounted. The probe was attached to the orbiter with a ball lock separation system which jettisoned the unit from the Chandrayaan. A solid propellant de-orbit mortar nudged the craft out of lunar orbit, while solid propellant based thrusters were fired to spin-stabilize the orientation enabling the imaging system to capture the descent profile. [20]

The probe's external surface had four oval-shaped anodised aluminium plates measuring 120mm X 180mm [21] on which the image of the Indian flag was depicted, complete with the Emblem of India and the words "Satyameva Jayate". [21] These plates were attached to each one of the four vertical sides of the probe. As per ISRO specifications these plates had to endure a temperature range from −50 degrees celsius and as high as more than 150 degrees celsius. [21]

Mission chronology

India launched the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft using a modified version of the PSLV C11 [22] [23] on 22 October 2008 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh at 06:22 IST (00:52  UTC). [24]

The lunar probe separated from Chandrayaaan-1, in a 102 km circular polar orbit around the Moon, at 20:06 IST on 14 November 2008. [25] After separation, it first fired its spin up rockets and then its retro rocket to de-orbit itself into the lunar surface. [26] While descending, the MIP continuously sent information back to the Chandrayaan-1 orbiter which in turn beamed the information back to Earth. After a 25-minute descent, it struck the Moon at 20:31 IST, 14 November 2008 at a speed of 1.69 kilometers per second (approximately 6100 km/h or 3800 miles per hour). [26] It crashed into Shackleton Crater, at the lunar south pole, near 89°33′S122°56′W / 89.55°S 122.93°W / -89.55; -122.93 , [27] [28] at 20:31 on 14 November 2008. [25]

Discovery of water

On 25 September 2009, ISRO announced that the MIP had discovered water on the Moon during its descent just before impact. [1] This announcement was made after the discovery of water was announced on 24 September 2009 by Science magazine by the NASA payload Moon Mineralogy Mapper carried on board Chandrayaan-1. [29] MIP discovered water on the Moon before NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper, the announcement of this discovery was not made until NASA confirmed it. [2] [30]

Site location and naming

The approximate impact location of the probe ( 89°46′S39°24′W / 89.76°S 39.40°W / -89.76; -39.40 ) [31] was named as Jawahar Sthal in India after the first Prime Minister of India, on whose birth anniversary [32] [33] incidentally the event of MIP impact took place. The name was reportedly suggested by A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. [34] [35]

The initial location was later refined to the Earth-facing slope of the connecting ridge between Shackleton (crater) and De Gerlache (crater) near coordinates ( 89°33′S122°56′W / 89.55°S 122.93°W / -89.55; -122.93 ) by matching images from MIP camera to LROC NAC image mosaic. [36]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lander (spacecraft)</span> Type of spacecraft

A lander is a spacecraft that descends towards, then comes to rest on the surface of an astronomical body other than Earth. In contrast to an impact probe, which makes a hard landing that damages or destroys the probe upon reaching the surface, a lander makes a soft landing after which the probe remains functional.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ISRO</span> Indian national space and aeronautics agency

The Indian Space Research Organisation is India's national space agency. It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), overseen by the Prime Minister of India, with the Chairman of ISRO also serving as the chief executive of the DoS. It is primarily responsible for space-based operations, space exploration, international space cooperation and the development of related technologies. The agency maintains a constellation of imaging, communication and remote sensing satellites. It operates the GAGAN and IRNSS satellite navigation systems. It has sent three missions to the Moon and one mission to Mars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chandrayaan-1</span> First lunar orbiter of Indias Chandrayaan Programme

Chandrayaan-1 was the first Indian lunar probe under the Chandrayaan programme. It was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in October 2008, and operated until August 2009. The mission consisted of an orbiter and an impactor. India launched the spacecraft using a PSLV-XL rocket on 22 October 2008 at 00:52 UTC from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The mission was a major boost to India's space program, as India researched and developed its own technology to explore the Moon. The vehicle was inserted into lunar orbit on 8 November 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moon landing</span> Arrival of a spacecraft on the Moons surface

A Moon landing or lunar landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon, including both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was Luna 2 in 1959.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moon Mineralogy Mapper</span>

The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) is one of two instruments of NASA that was carried by India's first mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-1, launched October 22, 2008. It is an imaging spectrometer, and the team is led by Principal investigator Carle Pieters of Brown University, and managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exploration of the Moon</span> Missions to the Moon

The physical exploration of the Moon began when Luna 2, a space probe launched by the Soviet Union, made a deliberate impact on the surface of the Moon on September 14, 1959. Prior to that the only available means of lunar exploration had been observations from Earth. The invention of the optical telescope brought about the first leap in the quality of lunar observations. Galileo Galilei is generally credited as the first person to use a telescope for astronomical purposes, having made his own telescope in 1609, the mountains and craters on the lunar surface were among his first observations using it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SELENE-2</span>

SELENE-2, or the Selenological and Engineering Explorer 2, is a cancelled Japanese robotic mission to the Moon that would have included an orbiter, a lander and a rover. It was intended as a successor to the 2007 SELENE (Kaguya) lunar orbiter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter</span> NASA robotic spacecraft orbiting the Moon

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chandrayaan-2</span> Ongoing Indian lunar orbiter mission

Chandrayaan-2 is the second lunar exploration mission developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) after Chandrayaan-1. It consists of a lunar orbiter, the Vikram lunar lander, and the Pragyan rover, all of which were developed in India. The main scientific objective is to map and study the variations in lunar surface composition, as well as the location and abundance of lunar water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lunar south pole</span> Southernmost point on the Moon

The lunar south pole is the southernmost point on the Moon. It is of interest to scientists because of the occurrence of water ice in permanently shadowed areas around it. The lunar south pole region features craters that are unique in that the near-constant sunlight does not reach their interior. Such craters are cold traps that contain fossil records of hydrogen, water ice, and other volatiles dating from the early Solar System. In contrast, the lunar north pole region exhibits a much lower quantity of similarly sheltered craters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chandrayaan programme</span> Indian Lunar exploration programme

The Chandrayaan programme also known as the Indian Lunar Exploration Programme is an ongoing series of outer space missions by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for the exploration of the Moon. The program incorporates a lunar orbiter, an impactor, a soft lander and a rover spacecraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jawahar Point</span> Moon Impact Probes hard landing site

Jawahar Point or Jawahar Sthal is the site near the Shackleton Crater where the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) of the Chandrayaan-1 hard landed on lunar surface on 14 November 2008. The name was reportedly suggested by India's former President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam as the MIP touched the Moon on the birth anniversary of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

<i>Pragyan</i> (Chandrayaan-3) Indian lunar rover

Pragyan is a lunar rover that forms part of Chandrayaan-3, a lunar mission developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

The Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (LUPEX), is a planned joint lunar mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The mission would send an uncrewed lunar lander and rover to explore the south pole region of the Moon no earlier than 2028. It is envisaged to explore the permanently shadowed regions and to determine the quantity and quality of water on the Moon. JAXA is likely to provide the H3 launch vehicle and the rover, while ISRO would be providing the lander.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chandrayaan-3</span> Indian lunar lander mission

Chandrayaan-3 is the third mission in the Chandrayaan programme, a series of lunar-exploration missions developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The mission consists of a Vikram lunar lander and a Pragyan lunar rover was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on 14 July 2023. The spacecraft entered lunar orbit on 5 August, and India became the first country to touch down near the lunar south pole, at 69°S, the southernmost lunar landing on 23 August 2023 at 18:04 IST, ISRO became the first agency to land near the south pole of the moon in its first attempt and overall the fourth space agency to successfully land on the Moon, after USSR, NASA and the CNSA.

References

  1. 1 2 "MIP detected water on Moon way back in June: ISRO Chairman". The Hindu . Bangalore. 2009-09-25. Retrieved 2013-06-09.
  2. 1 2 "Chandrayaan first discovered water on moon, but?". DNA . Bangalore. DNA. 2009-09-25. Retrieved 2013-06-09.
  3. ↑ "NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  4. ↑ "Chandrayaan-1 starts observations of the Moon". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  5. ↑ "An afterthought". frontline.thehindu.com. 2008-12-18. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  6. ↑ "Luna 2". US National Space Science Data Center. Retrieved 2013-12-03.
  7. ↑ "Ranger 3". US National Space Science Data Center. Retrieved 2013-12-03.
  8. ↑ "Hiten". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive (NSSDCA). Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  9. ↑ "Hiten". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive (NSSDCA). Archived from the original on 2019-04-17. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  10. ↑ "Probe crashes into Moon's surface". BBC News. 2006-09-03. Retrieved 2010-05-23.
  11. 1 2 Laxman, Srinivas (2008-11-15). "Chandrayaan-I Impact Probe lands on moon". Times Of India . Retrieved 2008-11-14.
  12. ↑ "China's lunar probe Chang'e-1 impacts moon_English_Xinhua". news.xinhuanet.com. Archived from the original on 2009-03-02.
  13. ↑ "An afterthought". Frontline. 2008-12-18. Retrieved 2023-09-19.
  14. ↑ "India's Moon Mission". politicalaffairs.com. 2008-10-27. Archived from the original on 2015-10-17. Retrieved 2013-11-06.
  15. ↑ Service, Express News (2008-11-11). "Kalam turns teacher in the midst of students". newindianexpress.com. Archived from the original on 2014-04-12. Retrieved 2014-04-11.
  16. ↑ "Payload bearing Tricolour will land on Moon". The Economic Times. 2008-10-15. Retrieved 2008-10-24.
  17. ↑ "Moon Impact Probe". ISRO. Archived from the original on 2008-10-26. Retrieved 2008-10-24.
  18. ↑ "Chandrayaan team over the moon". The Hindu . Chennai, India. 2008-11-15. Archived from the original on 2008-12-16.
  19. ↑ "Moon Impact Probe (MIP)". ISRO. Archived from the original on 2008-10-26. Retrieved 2008-10-24.
  20. ↑ "Moon Impact Probe Chandrayaan-I" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-03-26.
  21. 1 2 3 "Blore firm behind the Chandrayaan tri-colour". Deccan Herald. 2008-11-16. Retrieved 2008-11-17.[ dead link ]
  22. ↑ "Mission Sequence". Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) . Retrieved 2008-11-05.
  23. ↑ "Chandrayaan-1 shifted to VAB". The Hindu . Chennai, India. 2008-10-22. Archived from the original on 2008-10-17. Retrieved 2008-10-15.
  24. ↑ "PSLV-C11 Successfully Launches Chandrayaan-1". Indian Express. 2008-10-22. Archived from the original on 2008-10-25. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
  25. 1 2 "Chandrayaan team over the moon". The Hindu . Chennai, India. 2008-11-15. Archived from the original on 2008-12-16.
  26. 1 2 "Indian Tricolour lands on Moon". The Indian Express. 2008-11-14. Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
  27. ↑ "Frontline India's National Magazine - Moon Mystery - Moon Impact Probe impact coordinates". Archived from the original on 2011-01-10. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
  28. ↑ "Chandrayaan-1 Moon Impact Probe: Impact Location Refined" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-02-05. Retrieved 2021-08-16.
  29. ↑ "Water on the Moon?". Science Magazine. 2009-09-25. Retrieved 2009-09-29.
  30. ↑ Bagla, Pallav (2009-09-25). "Did India beat NASA to find water on moon?". NDTV . Bangalore. Retrieved 2013-06-09.
  31. ↑ "Note verbale dated 13 October 2009 from the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations (Vienna) addressed to the Secretary-General" (PDF).
  32. ↑ "Indian tricolour lands on moon". The New Indian Express. 2012-05-14. Retrieved 2023-09-17.
  33. ↑ "Indian Tricolour Placed on the Moon on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's Birthday". 2008-11-14. Archived from the original on 2008-11-19.
  34. ↑ "8.4 Chandrayaan-1 Mission The New Face of the Moon by J.N. GOSWAMI". From Fishing Hamlet To Red Planet. Harper Collins. 2015. p. 506. ISBN   978-9351776895. Archived from the original on 2017-09-09. Retrieved 2019-03-28. The landing site of the MIP was named 'Jawahar Sthal' to commemorate the birthday of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, which also falls on 14 November coinciding with the date of the MIP impact.
  35. ↑ "Chandrayaan-1: The first time India 'touched' the Moon". The Indian Express. 2023-08-23. Archived from the original on 2023-08-27. Retrieved 2023-08-27. You, buddy, you have done it!" Dr Kalam told Nair. To the entire control room, he said: "Today is a historic day as India has accomplished this fantastic mission. I congratulate each and every one of you!"
    Before returning to New Delhi, however, he made a notable suggestion – to name the impact site after Pandit Nehru, on whose birthday the landing was made and whose vision was crucial to the creation of Isro. After receiving appropriate permissions from the government, the site was named "Jawahar Sthal
  36. ↑ "lpi (iPosterSessions - an aMuze! Interactive system)". lpsc2021.ipostersessions.com. Retrieved 2023-09-07.
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