With India succeeding in placing an orbiter around the moon and landing
a probe on its surface, one can only speculate about how long the NASA
inspired cover up of extraterrestrial artifacts can continue. If
Richard Hoagland and others are right about what's up there, how many
nations have to succeed in reaching the moon before the secret finally
breaks? I would guess that those behind the secrecy are fully aware of
such a scenario and would want to preempt such a contingency in order
not to lose all credibility.
Aloha,
Michael Salla, Ph.D.
www.exopolitics.org
***
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/
Indian ‘Tricolor’ Reaches Moon With
Mapping Probe (Update1)
By Demian McLean
Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) — India planted a flag of sorts on the
moon today as a probe painted in the national colors of green,
white and orange slammed into the lunar landscape, marking a
milestone in the country’s space program.
The foil-wrapped Moon Impact Probe photographed the rocky
surface and sampled the thin atmosphere during a half-hour
freefall, the Indian Space Research Organization said. The
device dropped from the larger, unmanned Chandrayaan-1 orbiter,
circling some 62 miles (100 kilometers) above the moon.
“The space program achieved a unique feat today with the
placing of the Indian tricolor on the moon’s surface on Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday,” the agency said, referring to the
country’s first prime minister, who died in 1964.
Almost 40 years after American Neil Armstrong became the
first person on the moon, a growing list of nations plans manned
or robotic visits over the next two decades, including the U.S.
and China. India’s $78.9 million mission to map the lunar
terrain is a step toward landing an unmanned rover by 2012.
Chandrayaan, which means “moon craft,” is expected to
scan the surface from orbit for two years. It’s India’s first
unmanned lunar probe, and was launched Oct. 22.
The smaller probe, which weighed 75 pounds (34 kilograms),
was probably destroyed by today’s “hard landing,” the Indian
agency said. Data beamed back may help engineers plan controlled
landings for future missions.
Chandrayaan is also carrying mapping instruments for the
European Space Agency, radiation-measuring equipment for the
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and two devices for the U.S.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
One of the NASA devices will look for ice deposits on the
lunar poles, and the other will assess the moon’s mineral
composition.
India launched its first rocket in 1963 and its first
satellite in 1975.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Demian McLean in Washington at
dmclean8@bloomberg.net.
