India's Chandrayaan Blasts Off To The Moon!

The UK also want to explore the Moon:

UK to send its ‘Chandrayaan’ , MoonLITE

Britain is set to launch its maiden moon mission to study the phenomenon of mysterious moonquakes , weeks after India's spacecraft
Chandrayaan-1 successfully entered the lunar orbit. The 100-million-pound unmanned mission 'MoonLITE' would aim to understand the cause of mysterious quakes that vibrate through the lunar rock and put it into the satellite's orbit before firing a series of probes into the moon’s surface, the daily Telegraph reported on Sunday.

The report said that the launch of Moon Lightweight Interior and Telecommunications Experiment or MoonLITE, will be announced by science minister Lord Drayson next month after which engineers would work on the technical designs with an aim to launch the satellite between 2012 and 2014.

Backed by NASA, the spacecraft would also examine the chemical composition of the rocks and even search for water on the moon's surface. The existence of moonquakes has puzzled scientists as the moon does not have the tectonic plate activity that causes quakes on the earth.

economictimes.indiatimes.com...

Originally posted by Phage
The "atmosphere" of the moon is tenuous in the extreme. The gravity of the moon is about 1/6th that of Earth.

Well thanks for refreshing us on the main stream version

But how does that account for the raging dust storms that NASA is talking about?

And what about the crepuscular rays that Surveyor photographed and the Astronauts sketched?

I would say dust storms are 'volatile' and 'crepuscular rays' require a significant atmosphere...

Unless you think NASA is fibbing?

Originally posted by zorgon
But how does that account for the raging dust storms that NASA is talking about?

And what about the crepuscular rays that Surveyor photographed and the Astronauts sketched?

I would say dust storms are 'volatile' and 'crepuscular rays' require a significant atmosphere...

No.
Why do you keep bringing this up? In fact an atmosphere would prevent it from happening.

Above: In 1968, on many occasions, NASA's Surveyor 7 moon lander photographed a strange "horizon glow" after dark. Researchers now believe the glow is sunlight scattered from electrically-charged moondust floating just above the lunar surface.

Stranger still, moondust might gather itself into a sort of diaphanous wind. Drawn by differences in global charge accumulation, floating dust would naturally fly from the strongly-negative nightside to the weakly-negative dayside. This "dust storm" effect would be strongest at the Moon's terminator, the dividing line between day and night.

Source

[edit on 24-11-2008 by Phage]

reply to post by Phage

What about Hoagland's glass ruins to account for those glows?

Originally posted by wolfgang1711
... I am waiting for the Damn German instrument to get activated

If you are referring to SIR-2, it was activated on 19th November.

The European near-infrared spectrometer SIR-2 was commissioned successfully on 19 November. The instrument was switched on and sent back housekeeping data indicating normal functionality. Science observations were started successfully on 20 November.

Other commission-ings:

The Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Spectrometer, C1XS, was first activated on 23 November, and its commissioning is in progress.

The Sub-keV Atom Reflecting Analyser, SARA will be commissioned from 7 to 10 December. The commissioning for this instrument will take longer than usual because the instrument operates at a high-voltage, which will be increased in steps.

Source: ESA Space Science

[edit on 24/11/2008 by sentinel2107]

Originally posted by Phage

Above: In 1968, on many occasions, NASA's Surveyor 7 moon lander photographed a strange "horizon glow" after dark. Researchers now believe the glow is sunlight scattered from electrically-charged moondust floating just above the lunar surface.

Stranger still, moondust might gather itself into a sort of diaphanous wind.

Phage, I know you you're heavily into mainstream thinking. But mainstream 'thinking' includes words such as 'might' and 'believe', as I've underlined in the quote you provided above.

That obviously means they DON'T KNOW FOR SURE AS TO WHAT CAUSES THESE EFFECTS! It's only conjecture.

Probably you'll agree with me here. Probably you'll put another spin on it?

Cheers!


[edit on 24-11-2008 by mikesingh]

reply to post by mikesingh


We know that there is not a substantial atmosphere. There are no observed phenomena which indicate an atmosphere. There are many which indicate none. Instrumentation has told us just how much "atmosphere" there is. (I know, the dog ate the "real" data)

When it comes to phenomena that we don't know the cause of the theories are developed which could account for them. In creating a theory known data are taken into account.

We know from data returned from the Lunar Prospector that the night area of the moon carries an electrostatic charge of -50 to -100 volts (it gets a lot higher when the moon passes through the plasma lobes of the magnetosphere. The daytime areas generally carry a slight positive charge. We know that a stuff with opposing static charges get attracted to each other (the old comb and paper pieces trick). Thus electrostatic activity becomes a theory to account for the observed "horizon glow" and "streamers". It seems like a pretty good theory (the use of the word "seems" is intentional).

[edit on 24-11-2008 by Phage]

[edit on 24-11-2008 by Phage]

Guys! Check this out! Some images released by ISRO.
Link...

reply to post by sentinel2107


Here it comes.
There is going to be more data than any of us know what to do with.
Guess what's on the moon... craters!

I'm up too late.

reply to post by Phage



Yes, you are absolutely right, Phage.
There are craters up there too.

Nice (what appears to be a) triangle, about one-fifths of the way down (at the left border) from the top of the image.



[edit on 25/11/2008 by sentinel2107]

Originally posted by sentinel2107
Nice (what appears to be a) triangle, about one-fifths of the way down (at the left border) from the top of the image.

You mean this?



Hmmm...So is this line 1 of page 1 of Chapter 1?? And there's a whole bloody novel left to cover! Darn, too much work! I'm outta here!

Cheers!

[edit on 25-11-2008 by mikesingh]

Originally posted by mikesingh

Originally posted by sentinel2107
Nice (what appears to be a) triangle, about one-fifths of the way down (at the left border) from the top of the image.

You mean this?



Hmmm...So is this line 1 of page 1 of Chapter 1?? And there's a whole bloody novel left to cover! Darn, too much work! I'm outta here!

Cheers!

[edit on 25-11-2008 by mikesingh]

Yes, I meant that exactly!

I can lighten your load by taking up the responsibility of writing the acknowledgment page for that novel, if you wish!

[edit on 25/11/2008 by sentinel2107]

Playing it safe as things heat up. Let's hope for the best!
India moon craft hit by heat rise

Excerpts:

Indian scientists are exploring various options to cool down a sudden surge of temperature inside the county's first unmanned lunar craft, Chandrayaan 1.
...
"Now the moon, our satellite and the sun are in same line this means our craft is receiving 1,200 watts of heat from the moon and 1,300 watts from the sun per meter square," said M Annadurai, project director of Indian's moon mission.

If the temperature is not kept in check, many instruments on board the orbiter may fail to perform, scientists say.
...
"We have rotated the spacecraft by 20 degrees and this has helped to reduce the temperature of the craft. We have also switched off certain equipment like mission computers and this has resulted in the reduction of temperature to 40C now. At this temperature all the equipment can perform very well," Mr Annadurai said.

"Although we did factor in the thermal conditions in the lunar orbit, the temperature is a bit higher than we anticipated."

He insisted all the instruments carried on board of the satellite have been tested and were working properly.
...
Scientists also plan to raise the orbit of the Indian craft to cool it down. It is presently in orbit 100km (62 miles) from the moon. However Mr Annadurai said that would only be done as a last resort.
...

[edit on 25/11/2008 by sentinel2107]

Just another interesting article..all systems seem to be on a go. The Hindu got some interesting pics that are not on the CY ISRO website..

Detail-Rich: Three-dimensional images of the moon’s surface, with craters and other features, captured during the past fortnight by the Terrain Mapping Camera of Chandrayaan-1.

CHENNAI: Nine out of 11 scientific instruments on board Chandrayaan-1 have been switched on, and the data that have been radioed in by them are being analysed.

According to M. Annadurai, Project Director, Chandrayaan-1, the data include three-dimensional pictures of the Moon’s surface taken by the Terrain Mapping Camera, an instrument built by ISRO’s Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad.

The TMC has fore, nadir and aft cameras. Of the nine instruments that have been activated, the Moon Impact Probe, painted in the colours of the Indian flag, landed on the Moon on November 14.

Two more to go


The instruments that remain to be activated are the High Energy X-ray Spectrometer (HEX) and the Sub keV Atom Reflecting Analyser (SARA). HEX, built by the Physical Research Laboratory, Bangalore and the ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore, will study the Moon’s polar regions for deposits of water ice and prospect areas for high uranium and thorium concentration.

SARA will investigate the surface composition, how its surface reacts to the solar wind and how materials are altered in space. SARA has been jointly built by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics and the Space Physics Laboratory of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram.

HEX and SARA, both high voltage instruments, will be switched on in the first week of December. “These are high voltage systems. You have to wait for some time in orbit before they are switched on,” Mr. Annadurai said.

When the ISRO performed a series of manoeuvres by firing Chandrayaan-1’s onboard engine to take the spacecraft to the Moon and then lower it into the final lunar orbit at an altitude of 100 km above it, the two systems could have been exposed to gases.

These gases should be “evacuated’ before the two instruments were activated, he said. The calibration of instruments was under way. Teams dealing with the instruments were studying the data received. “The science data needs to be fully reviewed and analysed,” said Mr. Annadurai ....

www.hindu.com...


The overheating problem is causing temperatures on CY to go to 50 celsius, instead of the 40 c thats comfortable for equipment and was expected. Not sure what problems it may lead to later, but the next month seems critical. However good news is all instruments are functioning well and been tried out. ISRO has a competent people. Am sure they will do the best they can. Apart from criticising them for the website and poor PR, i do appreciate their openness and honesty. Something other space programs in the immediate neighbourhood can learn from.

(They've got it back to 40 c by reorienting the spacecraft by 20 degrees with mission instruments OK so far. Changing to a higher orbit is a last resort.)




[edit on 25-11-2008 by contradunce]

Originally posted by mikesingh
Hmmm...So is this line 1 of page 1 of Chapter 1?? And there's a whole bloody novel left to cover! Darn, too much work! I'm outta here!

Not to worry Mate.. already on it

He gets credit for spotting the first anomaly on Chandrayann 1

Originally posted by sentinel2107
I can lighten your load by taking up the responsibility of writing the acknowledgment page for that novel, if you wish!

Well get cracking The page she is a waitin

Hey sentinel! DO YOU EVER BOTHER TO READ YOUR U2Us???

C'mon man, shake a leg and get cracking on the query posed to you!

Cheers!

can I have a book when you've done it?

Whens the next round of photos coming in?

Someone gave me a telescope today. wokka wokka wokka



wZn

There's a new TMC video just out.

www.isro.org...

Great video!! More pics here including RADON data:

www.isro.org...

[edit on 26-11-2008 by contradunce]