Chandrayaan-1 launch - First Indian mission to the Moon - October 22, 2008

[s^3]

Here is a possible updated schedule of MIP drop:

1. Launch from Mother craft : 14:33 to 14:34 GMT
2. It will fly over the Malapert crater for about nine seconds.
3. Landing of Probe on Moon : Around 1500Hrs GMT on the Rim of  Shackleton Crater ... velocity at the time of impact is abput 1.5Km/sec.

The Mothership( CY1 ) will collect the data from probe but it will not be visible to Earth because it will be behind the moon when it collects the data.

So the data will be downloaded when the Mothership re-emerges from near North Pole from behind the moon after half orbit period.

Bad news cd-slam  ..  it will be earlier still

pity that it will be in the small hours of the morning my time.

[isro-watch]

here is a pic of that MIP... it contains the flag...
and definitely it is a proud moment for all of us(Indians)...

HOPEFULLY THAT PAINTED FLAG WILL/ CAN SURVIVE A CRASH AT 1.5KM/SEC

I don't recall an Indian flag being a part of the Impact Probe Payload. Is there any confirmation of this ?

Here is the official information about MIP : http://www.isro.org/Chandrayaan/htmls/mip.htm

Excerpt: Sounds pretty interesting ! I wonder if they will release images from the impact probe ...  that would be awesome !!

MIP System Configuration
The Moon Impact Probe (MIP) essentially consists of honeycomb structure, which houses all the subsystems and instruments. In addition to the instruments, the separation system, the de-boost spin and de-spin motors, it comprises of the avionics system and thermal control system. The avionics system supports the payloads and provides communication link between MIP and the main orbiter, from separation to impact and provides a database useful for future soft landing.
The mission envisages collecting all the instrument data during descent and transmits to main orbiter, which in turn will transmit them to the ground station during visible phases.

[isro-watch]

I hope ISRO releases that video which the MIP takes on its way...

ISRO is yet to release a good resolution image taken by chandrayaan-1....I expect ISRO to copy the chinese and unveil them at a press conference in presence of the Indian Prime Minister...

[astropl]

Here is a possible updated schedule of MIP drop:

1. Launch from Mother craft : 14:33 to 14:34 GMT
2. It will fly over the Malapert crater for about nine seconds.
3. Landing of Probe on Moon : Around 1500Hrs GMT on the Rim of  Shackleton Crater ... velocity at the time of impact is abput 1.5Km/sec.

Updated (info from ESA team member in India):

Separation: 14:36:54 UT
Flight time: 1487.220 sec
Moon impact: 15:01:41 UT.

[jcm]

 
 

at an altitude of 100 kilometres, ISRO will issue commands to re-orient and eject the MIP, which has an onboard motor that will fire for two seconds to slow the MIP's descent velocity to 75 metres per second. 

This is a bizarrely odd statement. At ejection, the MIP's descent velocity is zero. Assuming the
motor fires along the velocity vector, the descent velocity is STILL zero after the burn - it then starts to increase as the probe falls toward the moon.


Do they really mean:

1) The motor slows the MIP's *orbital* velocity  *by* 75 m/s?
  This would change the orbit from 100 x 100 km to -200 x 100 km, causing an impact. I think this is most likely what they mean, and is roughly consistent with the quoted time between separation and impact - deorbit to impact would be 23 min.

2). The motor slows the MIP's orbital velocity *to* 75 m/s?
  This implies a huge delta-V of 1559 m/s and is unlikely; resulting orbit of -1735 x 100 km would result in impact in only a few minutes. Can't be that.

3) The descent velocity *at the moment of impact* is 75 m/s?
   This doesn't seem a plausible descent velocity, but maybe I'm doing my orbital calculation
incorrectly.

Does anyone have information about the deboost motor? (propellant mass, specific impulse,
thrust?)

 Jonathan

[jcm]

This is very helpful information. It would be great to get better orbit data for CY-1.
If your ESA contact can find out the lat and long of the spacecraft at a given time,
say the MIP separation time, and the orbit inclination of CY-1 (all I have is 'polar') that
would be fantastic.

Here is a possible updated schedule of MIP drop:

1. Launch from Mother craft : 14:33 to 14:34 GMT
2. It will fly over the Malapert crater for about nine seconds.
3. Landing of Probe on Moon : Around 1500Hrs GMT on the Rim of  Shackleton Crater ... velocity at the time of impact is abput 1.5Km/sec.

Updated (info from ESA team member in India):

Separation: 14:36:54 UT
Flight time: 1487.220 sec
Moon impact: 15:01:41 UT.

[astropl]

This is very helpful information. It would be great to get better orbit data for CY-1.
If your ESA contact can find out the lat and long of the spacecraft at a given time,
say the MIP separation time, and the orbit inclination of CY-1 (all I have is 'polar') that
would be fantastic.

I have, by now, only parameters of Moon Capture Burn and first orbit, Inclination is "very polar"

Burn Start:                    16:50:46
Burn End:                      17:04:24
Altitude at burn:            384 598,87km
Firing duration:              817,077sec
delV:                              -366,8m/s
LC:                                 504.8 x 7500.4 km
Inclination:                     90.00
Period of Face On Orbit: 10h 50min 24sec

[jcm]

This is very helpful information. It would be great to get better orbit data for CY-1.
If your ESA contact can find out the lat and long of the spacecraft at a given time,
say the MIP separation time, and the orbit inclination of CY-1 (all I have is 'polar') that
would be fantastic.

I have, by now, only parameters of Moon Capture Burn and first orbit, Inclination is "very polar"

Burn Start:                    16:50:46
Burn End:                      17:04:24
Altitude at burn:            384 598,87km
Firing duration:              817,077sec
delV:                              -366,8m/s
LC:                                 504.8 x 7500.4 km
Inclination:                     90.00
Period of Face On Orbit: 10h 50min 24sec

That's a good start, thanks! Impressive if they really made it that polar!
Jonathan

[astropl]

Impact confirmed!

[morgen]

ISRO's press release confirming the MIP's (hard)landing.

[astrowiki]

And there are images.

http://www.isro.org/pslv-c11/photos/moon_images.htm

Feel like some snapshots from a video.

[hop]

And there are images.

http://www.isro.org/pslv-c11/photos/moon_images.htm

Feel like some snapshots from a video.

My understanding is that the MIP camera was video. Assuming all went well, that should be a very nice show once they get the whole thing downlinked and processed

[morgen]

Good quality video of CY-1 launch. Better late than never!

http://www.youtube.com/v/WaMLYBoyQNk&hl=de&fs=1

[Shturmanskie]

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step - Lao-tzu.

[ugordan]

Feel like some snapshots from a video.

My understanding is that the MIP camera was video.

As per information from UMSF, it's not a video camera but a time-lapse one. Since the probe was spin-stabilized you wouldn't want to look at that video anyway.

morgen: Thanks for that video. Slightly erratic tracking, but pretty nice.

[astrowiki]

LASER Instrument on Chandrayaan-1 Successfully Turned ON

http://www.isro.org/pressrelease/Nov16_2008.htm

[astrowiki]

And new images from TMC:

http://www.isro.org/pslv-c11/photos/moon_images.htm

http://www.isro.org/pslv-c11/photos/imagesfromchandrayaan/tmc-polar-region.jpg

http://www.isro.org/pslv-c11/photos/imagesfromchandrayaan/tmc-eq-region.jpg

[astrowiki]

And there is a video from TMC data:

http://www.isro.org/pslv-c11/videos/tmc.htm

(should open with IE)

[morgen]

Ugordan, eventhough the video is not perfect, it's much better then the original one shown in TV. It was really a shame that they couldn't track the rocket for not more than a few seconds.

[s^3]

video of TMC. It is a QLD ( Quick Look Display ) as is acquired by the craft with only ( probably ) rotation correction because the image appears to be slightly trapezoidal. One can't have a constant scale factor throughout the image. It will be geometrically distorted and of course without any radiometric ( intensity/brightness ) corrections. You can't expect LAT/LONG details on such a image.