India kisses the moon, Chandrayaan MIP lands

India on Friday became the fourth nation to have its flag flying on the Moon's surface when Chandrayaan-1's Moon Impact Probe device, - which has the Indian Tricolour painted on it - touched down.


The 35-kilo payload crash-landed on the lunar surface at around 2030 hrs IST. The MIP has started sending its first signals to the satellite.


It also contains equipment which will help scientists design a lunar lander or rover for the upcoming Chandrayaan-2 mission.


There's a lot tucked away inside the MIP. There's a device to constantly check its height as it falls, another to check what the air on the moon is made of and even a video camera to photograph the moon from close range.


Those photographs will help ISRO decide where to land India's first moon rover, a few years from now. The MIP also has the Indian flag painted on its sides a Sanskrit shloka as well.
The MIP disconnected from Chandrayaan at 100 km from the moon. As it fell, it kept sending information back to the satellite.


Closer to the surface, rockets were fired to slow down its speed and soften impact.


After 30 min of free fall, the MIP crash-landed on the south pole of moon.


The MIP is the brainchild of former president APJ Abdul Kalam. He said it's his dream to see an Indian astronaut walk the moon.


“The youth of India should consider that encouragement of the youth is the most powerful resource on the earth, above and underneath, India will do it,” he said.


'We've given the moon to India'


"We have given the moon to India," a beaming and excited chief of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) G. Madhavan Nair said minutes after the MIP landed. "The moon has been very favourable to us all through. We have travelled all the way to the moon," Nair told a crowded press conference at an ISRO base here as his fellow space scientists applauded.


The MIP has already sent "beautiful images with high resolution of the moon and their analysis will now begin", Nair said.


The around 35-kg MIP with three instruments took the images as it drifted towards the lunar surface detaching from India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 at 8.06 p.m.


The crash landing of the 375 mm x 375 mm x 470 mm MIP, a honeycomb structure carrying a radar altimeter, a video imaging system and a mass spectrometer, raised a cloud of dust that will be analysed by the scientists, yielding a host of data about the composition of the moon.


But well before that, the video imaging system and the mass spectrometer had obtained data that will enable the scientists to analyse if the moon has water, if it has anything that can be used as fuel for nuclear fusion, hopefully even the age of the moon.


Scientists at ISRO waited impatiently for the first batch of data sent by the MIP to Chandrayaan-1, as the spacecraft went behind the moon for an hour after the landing, while orbiting the Earth's natural satellite from 100 km above.


The landing of the MIP comes 50 years after the first man-made object landed on the lunar surface. The other countries that landed probes on the moon are the former USSR, the US and China.

Cool Kirsten driving India forward, says skipper Dhoni

Indian coach Gary Kirsten's calmness in the dressing room was working wonders for the team, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said on Thursday.

"He's not one of the guys, if we lose two or three wickets in a session, is in a panic, drinking plenty of water, moving here and there," he said.

"He's a calm and cool guy. It helps in making the dressing room atmosphere calm and cool.

"He's been great so far, and hopefully he'll be the same in the future," he told a news conference.

A buoyant India begin a seven-game one-day series against England from Friday after a comprehensive 2-0 home test series win over Australia this week, their first over the world champion side for seven years.

Dhoni praised the former South Africa opening batsmen for motivating the players while staying firmly behind the scenes.

"Whatever coaches I have gone through, he is very different," the wicketkeeper said.

"He gives plenty of confidence to the players. He's a great motivator and hits at the right moment, and in the right areas.

"That's very important, to be focussed and speak on the areas where it is really needed."

Kirsten took over in February after a period of turmoil which followed a shock first round World Cup exit in 2007 and the subsequent resignation of Greg Chappell, ending the former Australian skipper's eventful two-year term.

He began with a drawn home test series against native South Africa. India then recorded their first-ever one-day series win in Sri Lanka.

Against Australia, India fielded sharply and appeared to execute their plans smoothly.

"We've improved our fielding, we're trying to improve our running between the wickets," Dhoni said.

Kirsten also faces a big challenge, overseeing the team's transformation with many stalwarts in the twilight of their careers.

Spinner Anil Kumble, test cricket's third most successful bowler with a tally of 619, and former skipper Saurav Ganguly retired with the Australia series.

ISRO to launch Chandrayaan-II by 2012: Nair

ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair on Thursday said India's second lunar mission, Chandrayaan-II, will be launched by 2012.

"Chandrayaan-II will be launched by 2012. We will have a lander that will drop a small robot on the moon, which will pick samples, analyse data and send the data back. Already the project has been formulated for Chandrayaan-II," he told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar here.

He dismissed as speculation reports that the government had not sanctioned ISRO's proposal for a manned mission.

Justifying the relevance of manned moon mission, Nair said, "We cannot be lagging behind in terms of our capability to access space. China, the US and Japan are going ahead with huge plans for space." Talking about Chandrayaan-I, the country's first unmanned moon mission, he said the Moon Impact Probe would land on the lunar surface tomorrow evening. However, "we cannot specify the time as of now," he said.

On the success of the moon mission, Nair said already 95 per cent of the mission had been completed and just five per cent of the work had to be over. The total success of the mission would be known only after the remaining work was completed, he said.

He said Chandrayaan-I would get extensive study map of the moon by which an idea of the minerals of the moon would be available. Mineral mapping and surface feature mapping would be of prime importance, he said.

He also said the ISRO was going ahead with the study of sending a spacecraft to Mars.

On the 'solar mission' Aditya, he said a satellite was intended to study solar emissions. The design work had been completed and it would be launched within two years, he said.

Mukesh Ambani replaces LN Mittal as richest Indian

Mukesh Ambani has replaced steel magnate Lakshmi Niwas Mittal as the richest Indian in the world, according to the latest Forbes annual rich list for the country.

UK resident Lakshmi Mittal, dropped 30.5 billion dollar amid plunging steel prices and slipped to No. 2.

Mukesh Ambani, who oversees petrochemicals giant Reliance Industries, grabs the top spot for the first time, despite losing 28.2 billion dollar in the past year. His estranged brother, Anil, ranked third, is the biggest dollar loser, down 32.5 billion dollar, Forbes said.

Telecom czar Sunil Mittal and realtor K P Singh are ranked fourth and fifth with net worth of 7.9 billion dollar and 7.8 billion dollar, respectively.

Forbes said that the combined net worth of India's 40 richest has declined by 60 percent due to weak stock markets amid depreciating rupee against the greenback.

Their total wealth is now 139 billion dollar, down from 351 billion dollar just a year ago, according to Forbes India Rich List.

Others Indians in the rich list were nearly wiped out entirely. India's wind power man Tulsi Tanti and his brothers lost 91 percent of their fortune, amid reports about the poor quality of Suzlon's wind blades.

Real estate fortunes were among those hit the hardest. K.P.Singh lost 27.2 dollar billion since Forbes last published listing but is down an astonishing 39 billion dollar since his DLF stock peaked in January.

Property tycoon Ramesh Chandra's net worth dropped 91 percent to 1 billion dollar. His Unitech lost half its market capitalization in one day last month.

While all 40 tycoons listed last year were billionaires, only 27 have 10-figure net worths now. A net worth of 760 million dollar was needed to make to the list this year, 840 million dollar less than last year.

The Ruia brothers were ranked at sixth position with a net worth of 7.6 billion dollar, followed by Wipro Chairman Aziz Premji, worth 7 billion dollar.

The new entrants in the list are retailer Micky Jagtiani at 16th position with a net worth of 2 billion dollar, followed by Divi's Laboratories' founder Murali Divi at 36th place with a net worth of 870 billion dollar.