The Indian flag is painted on the Moon Impact Probe, which will “SIT LIKE A HAT” on Chandrayaan-1
The Moon Impact Probe (MIP), which has pride of place among the 11 instruments on board Chandrayaan-1, is painted with the proud colours of the Indian flag. It is this instrument that will land on the moon’s surface and leave telltale evidence of an Indian instrument having reached the moon.
The MIP, which weighs 29 kg and sits like a hat on top of Chandrayaan-1, has been built by the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram.
The MIP will be a technological forerunner to India’s Chandrayaan-2 mission which will deploy a lander or a rover on the moon. Russia will build this lander/ rover. If it is a rover, it will look like children’s toy-car, a few feet long and a few feet broad.
It will move around the moon, pick up soil samples, do chemical analysis in situ and transmit the data to the ground. India’s Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) will put Chandrayaan-2 in orbit around 2011-12.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Russia’s federal space agency Roskosmos signed an agreement on November 12, 2007, which envisages a joint lunar mission for Chandrayaan-2. While ISRO will build the mother-spacecraft, Roskosmos will build the lander/rover. This lander/rover will detach from Chandrayaan-2 and land on the moon.
Preparations are on at Sriharikota for the launch of Chandrayaan-1 on October 22 by ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C11). Chandrayaan-1 will carry 11 instruments — five from India and six from abroad.
