[emkay.india]

Agree that the hype around the landing was much too high but on a positive side my kid who is at 2nd standard was asking me questions about how an aeroplane (her word for rocket) can go to moon and this seems to be the general atmosphere at her school apparently. This hype has created a much needed awareness in science and has sure sparked an interest among school children in space sciences.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by emkay.india

This hype has created a much needed awareness in science and has sure sparked an interest among school children in space sciences.

Excellent! Ultimately, this is the best outcome, a few of today's children will be inspired to go along this scientific/space exploration path and that can only lead to good things in the future.

A lot of the effort around rocketry and space exploration has always been driven by and exploited by politics and politicians. Wernher von Braun's initial research and rockets were funded by Nazi Germany for their war plans. And then he went on to work for the Americans who also wanted his research. The first Moon landing was largely driven by Kennedy's desire to beat the Soviets in the Space race.

Smart scientific administrators leverage these opportunities to fund and drive their research. However jingoistic the motives may be, the results are ultimately for the good of humanity!

[raksrules]

My kid is 5 years old and I told him that I am going to watch moon landing (explained in kiddie language) and he wanted to see it with me but as expected he slept. In morning, he asks me whether that "vehicle" went on moon and I had to tell him that due to some problem they were not able to land properly. But seeing that he is interested in enough for me.

[vikram_d]

Lander intact, lying at an angle but in one piece as per latest new reports.

https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/techa...cid=anaheimntp

[DreamsUnlimited]

The scientific expeditions and experiments are not reality tv shows. Everyone associated with science, at least experimental science, knows how tiny and incremental the success rate is. Science should be left to be done by scientist without the undue burden of expectations. People should celebrate success and involved scientists should be hailed as heroes but AFTER they have successfully achieved something. Live telecasting an extremely challenging mission puts huge stress on people involved and by nature, (most) scientists are introverts and work better when left to their own device.

[abhi7013]

Originally Posted by DreamsUnlimited

The scientific expeditions and experiments are not reality tv shows. Everyone associated with science, at least experimental science, knows how tiny and incremental the success rate is. Science should be left to be done by scientist without the undue burden of expectations. People should celebrate success and involved scientists should be hailed as heroes but AFTER they have successfully achieved something. Live telecasting an extremely challenging mission puts huge stress on people involved and by nature, (most) scientists are introverts and work better when left to their own device.

Exactly. Media coverage has to be only to a certain extent. The way many of them started hailing india as an emerging super power, a debate where the anchor is desperately trying to bring out appreciations from a few US politicians were all pretty embarrassing to watch.

The media is here just to ruin everything. Go ahead, have a field day, but at least wait till there's an outcome. The debates are nonsensical especially the regional news where the anchors are graphically edited and made to sit in a cockpit or even on the moon! They go on to explain science like talking to a 10 year old, only that the latter will have far more information than these people!

Now am waiting for the communications to be re-established and the remainder of the mission to resume. You will be guaranteed a bollywood movie should this happen!

[emkay.india]

Originally Posted by DreamsUnlimited

The scientific expeditions and experiments are not reality tv shows. Everyone associated with science, at least experimental science, knows how tiny and incremental the success rate is. Science should be left to be done by scientist without the undue burden of expectations. People should celebrate success and involved scientists should be hailed as heroes but AFTER they have successfully achieved something. Live telecasting an extremely challenging mission puts huge stress on people involved and by nature, (most) scientists are introverts and work better when left to their own device.

The first human moon landing was a live telecast 50 years ago, hence it's only natural to put this on live especially as we were supposed to land on a place which no other country has tried. It was something similar to the 1969 event. But the media people becoming extemporaneous scientists is something to be condemned. Also, as said by many people, this event united millions of Indians which only (sadly) happens during cricket matches. This itself was a big victory for ISRO.

[naveenroy]

A wonderful achievement. We should be really proud of this project. Good to see that stuff like this tickles the interest in the minds of all Indians. We need more push to science and scientific stuff.

[lalgudi]

I always believe that such projects have more intangibles that leave a long lasting impact on multiple generations with kids being the most impacted. that is obvious through some of the questions kids ask. Yesterday over dinner, my son , who is in 7th standard, asked me what it takes to become a space engineer and work with ISRO. This kind of a response and its impact is priceless and this is one kid.

having watched the landing attempt, i wrote the following on my FB wall the day after

-------------------------------

#Chandrayaan2

When was the last time our country came together to witness the outcome of a scientific project during the odd hours of the night ?

When was the last time a scientific project captured so much attention and people learnt apogee , perigee and other such terms ?

When was the last time a scientific project kindled people's imagination, got children's attention, and had people glued to television and YouTube ?

The live telecast helped people see all the emotions on display and gave an insight into the human side of our scientists.

The Lander may have failed, but the orbiter is still there doing its job.

95% of the project mission is achieved and it is a huge success as far as achieving project targets are considered.

Getting kids interested in Space and Science is the primary intangible of such projects and i am sure that we will have a 1000 kids mentioning Chandrayaan-2 as the inspiration for pursuing STEM.

I am sure ISRO will do it again as part of Chandrayaan-3. Good project managers always account for failure and plan for the worst case scenario. And ISRO has some very professional Project Managers.

Awesome work ISRO. ������ ���� ������ ������������ ���������� ���� ������...

"Given ships or sails adapted to the breezes of heaven, there will be those who will not shrink from even that vast expanse."
– Johannes Kepler - in a Letter to Galileo, 1610

Now on to Chandrayaan-3....

-------------------------------

[Ranabegins]

I see this as an win and I feel no amount of media coverage for this event could have been too much. The emotions that everyone showed in the country was because of the Media Coverage and the government's positive attitude towards this. Now that our scientists know that how much we appreciate their hard work and how badly we wanted to be on the moon they will make sure we reach there.

Apart from this a hug from the Prime Minister when you are at a low in life can do wonders.

[BoneCollector]

Now this is a news that no one would have expected. North Korean hackers targeted ISRO during Chandrayaan 2 mission. This is as per a report released by Kaspersky.

Link

[Sutripta]

The N. Koreans will try to get as much information as possible from every entity which has anything to do with nuclear power/ weapons and rockets/ missiles.

I was pleasantly surprised at Kudankulam NPPs ready acknowledgement of the N. Korean penetration. Shows quiet confidence. The norm is to deny everything.

Strong rumours that ISRO was also the unintended victim of stuxnet a decade back. (ISRO denies the claim).

Regards
Sutripta

[BoneCollector]

Vikram lander of Chandrayaan 2 has been located by NASA.

Twitter

NASA

This image shows the Vikram Lander impact point and associated debris field. Green dots indicate spacecraft debris (confirmed or likely). Blue dots locate disturbed soil, likely where small bits of the spacecraft churned up the regolith. "S" indicates debris identified by Shanmuga Subramanian. This portion of the Narrow Angle Camera mosaic was made from images M1328074531L/R and M1328081572L/R acquired Nov. 11.
Credits: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University.

The Chandrayaan 2 Vikram lander was targeted for a highland smooth plain about 600 kilometers from the south pole; unfortunately the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) lost contact with their lander shortly before the scheduled touchdown (Sept. 7 in India, Sept. 6 in the United States). Despite the loss, getting that close to the surface was an amazing achievement. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera team released the first mosaic (acquired Sept. 17) of the site on Sept. 26 and many people have downloaded the mosaic to search for signs of Vikram. Shanmuga Subramanian contacted the LRO project with a positive identification of debris. After receiving this tip, the LROC team confirmed the identification by comparing before and after images. When the images for the first mosaic were acquired the impact point was poorly illuminated and thus not easily identifiable. Two subsequent image sequences were acquired on Oct. 14 and 15, and Nov. 11. The LROC team scoured the surrounding area in these new mosaics and found the impact site (70.8810°S, 22.7840°E, 834 m elevation) and associated debris field. The November mosaic had the best pixel scale (0.7 meter) and lighting conditions (72° incidence angle).

The debris first located by Shanmuga is about 750 meters northwest of the main crash site and was a single bright pixel identification in that first mosaic (1.3 meter pixels, 84° incidence angle). The November mosaic shows best the impact crater, ray and extensive debris field. The three largest pieces of debris are each about 2x2 pixels and cast a one pixel shadow.

[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

Vikram lander of Chandrayaan 2 has been located by NASA.

Here is the Tweet with mail of NASA to Shanmuga Subramanian confirming his find.

Link

[ads11]

Guess the news is slowly making its way to the popular science pages.
https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/2/2...-orbiter-found

Now, researchers have provided visual confirmation of this hard impact, thanks to NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been orbiting the Moon since 2009. A team of scientists operating the camera on the orbiter first took pictures of the landing site on September 17th and released them to the public. They received a tip of possible debris in the pictures, and confirmed that it came from Vikram. However, the place where Vikram hit wasn’t well lit, so the team took images of the site again in October and November to get a better look. Ultimately, they found the spot and captured a more detailed image of the site and debris field.

You can sort of see the difference in the region the lander impacted. To the naked eye it basically looks a bit lighter.

Ah well, onwards and upwards.