Moon Impactor Probe pictures silenced doubting Thomases

New Delhi, Jan 28 (PTI) Indian scientists, who were
reluctant to send the Impactor Probe onboard Chandrayaan-I
because it was taking up too much of the allowable payload
weight, were later silenced after it sent back never-seen-
before 5-metre resolution Moon images taken from a height of
only six km.

The Moon Impactor Probe (MIP), which crashed onto the
lunar surface on November 14, was included as one of the 11
payloads of Chandrayaan-I at the suggestion of the then Indian
President A P J Abdul Kalam.

Some scientists were, however, reluctant to include the
28-kg MIP as part of the payload and favoured carrying a few
more instruments instead, said senior scientist Narendra
Bhandari, who has been involved with Chandrayaan-I since its
inception.

"The MIP, which would crash on the lunar surface, alone
weighed 28 kg when the 10 other instruments had a total weight
of only 50 kg," Bhandari said, adding "Any given day,
scientists would have preferred carrying more diverse
experiments instead of one taking up the lion's share of the
allowable payload weight."

But once the MIP began to beam back to earth breathtaking
pictures as it plunged towards the moon, scientists were
gladdened as they had never before seen photographs of the
moon clicked from an altitude of only six km, Bhandari said.

The MIP, which landed very close to the South Pole near
Shackleton crater, not only marked India's physical presence
on the lunar surface but also helped check out some of the
technologies related to future soft landing missions, he said.
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