India launched its first lunar mission today, Chandrayaan-1 (which means "Moon craft" in Sanskrit, and I am not going to write that again for fear of misspelling). This mission will map almost the entire lunar surface with a resolution of about 5 meters and keep up the search for water in the polar regions. A 5 meter resolution is pretty good...you could see a house, but not something the size of a person. (The U.S. will launch the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter next year which will have much higher resolution but will not be able to image the entire surface of the Moon so these two missions complement each other nicely).Congratulations to India...and best of luck in the futrue. They are planning a lander/rover mission for 2011!
Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.
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5 comments:
And soon there will be a tech support center on the moon taking calls from frustrated American consumers.
What are they going to do with that info? Map out plats for condos?
It would be interesting to find out what kind of fuel they are using. I ate some Indian food with so much curry it could have launched you to the moon....and beyond.
Hey loggy, never say never..don't discount anything. Look at what was built in Dubai, UAE... They constructed miles upon miles of beachfront property where there was only ocean before. Just think of how many Pledge Grab-Its you could sell on that dusty moon! :)
Boy, aren't we in a capitalist way of thinking!
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