Chandrayaan 1, India's first deep space mission,
released its Moon Impact Probe for a suicide nosedive to the lunar surface, it
was announced on Friday.
The probe hit the moon at exactly
8:31 p.m. Indian Standard Time (10:01 a.m. EST), 25 minutes after being
released from its
carrier spacecraft, run by the Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO), Indian news organizations reported.
The event reportedly generated
images and data, but those have not been released yet.
The robotic mothership
successfully entered
lunar orbit on Nov. 8 after its two-and-a-half week journey from the Satish Dhawan Space Center
on India's
east coast.
The Moon
Impact Probe weighed 64 pounds (29 kilograms) and rode atop the deck of the
main orbiter. The impactor was set to be released
once the spacecraft reached its final circular orbit 62 miles (100 kilometers)
above the moon.
The probe had miniature Indian
national flags painted on four sides, meant to commemorate the birth of the
country's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru (known as Children's Day).
It was to "signify the entry of
India
on Moon," an ISRO official told the Press Trust of India.
The main objectives of the probe
were to explore the lunar surface at close range — while on the way down
— and to test out technologies for future soft landing missions.
The probe had three main payloads:
- A radar altimeter to measure the probe's altitude above
the lunar surface.
- A Video Imaging System that was to snap photos of the
moon as the probe descended.
- A mass spectrometer to measure what's in the almost
non-existent lunar atmosphere.
The probe was about 14.7 inches by
14.7 inches by 18.5 inches (375 mm x 375 mm x 470 mm)
Chandrayaan means "moon craft" in
Sanskrit.
The $80
million mission, which includes three instruments supplied by the European
Space Agency, is a precursor to the planned Chandrayaan
2, which will carry a Russian rover and a lander and
is currently slated to be launched between 2010 and 2012.
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