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Communication Lost With Indian Moon Satellite

Posted by timothy on from the that's-a-shame dept.

stoolpigeon writes "All communication links with the only Indian satellite orbiting the Moon have been lost, India's space agency says. Radio contact with the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was lost abruptly early on Saturday, said India's Bangalore-based Space Research Organization (ISRO)."

4 of 186 comments (clear)

  1. Orbiting the moon is exceptionally difficult by QuoteMstr · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Orbiting the moon is a lot harder than orbiting the earth. The moon's gravitational field is exceptionally lumpy because of concentrations of mass beneath the surface. If not actively corrected for, these mass concentrations will make a satellite's orbit go through increasingly violent gyrations until it eventually intersects with the surface.

    I wonder if this is what happened to the Indian probe.

  2. Wtf BBC? Seriously? by baboonlogic · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Some critics regard the space programme as a waste of resources in a country where millions still lack basic services.

    Seriously BBC... wtf is up with that? India is a trillion dollar economy and this was 75 million usd project. Can I say chump change? For some context, India recently announced a really stupid 30 billion usd national id scheme. While reporting that, you did not care to mention India's millions that lack basic services. Why do you hate India and real scientific progress so much?

  3. Re:Wtf BBC? Seriously? by jchandra · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Some critics regard BBC as a waste of resources in a country where millions lack basic services.

    India may be lying in the gutter, but at least they are looking up, and working hard on getting out.

    --
    god n. : the Supreme Being, indistinguishable from a good random number generator.
  4. Re:data shows no sign of altitude loss, rapid dece by thrawn_aj · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Blessed Ganesha, it's full of cows!

    Nicely done (and in good taste too :)). Pity you're all alone in a sea of mediocre pseudo-wits :(.

    I'm not offended as an Indian (by the over-abused and lame tech support jokes that litter the desolate landscape of this thread); I'm offended as a connoisseur of good comedy . Seriously dudes (who-probably-lost-their-jobs-to-outsourcing-and-are-surprisingly-hard-to-feel-sympathy-for-at-this-particular-moment), that meme is about as funny as the one about Soviet Russia or even *shudder* sharks with lasers. It is scary that Fark is so much better at meme-based humor than the supposedly godlike nerds that inhabit this realm.