Indian scientists detect water on Moon

http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3242164&page=0

Time has passed since the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) landed on the Moon November 14, 2008.
The Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft ended its mission on 28 August 2009 and now we are hearing about the results.
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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081117132956.htm
India's Chandrayaan-1 Spacecraft Successful: Moon Impact Probe Hits Lunar Surface

ScienceDaily (Nov. 17, 2008) — In a historic event, the Indian space programme achieved a unique feat on Friday (November 14, 2008) with the placing of Indian tricolour on the Moon’s surface on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday. The Indian flag was painted on the sides of Moon Impact Probe (MIP), one of the 11 payloads of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, that successfully hit the lunar surface at 20:31 hrs (8:31 pm) IST.

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MIP’s 25 minute journey to the lunar surface began with its separation from Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft at 20:06 hrs (8:06 pm) IST. This was followed by a series of automatic operations that began with the firing of its spin up rockets after achieving a safe distance of separation from Chandrayaan-1. Later, the probe slowed down with the firing of its retro rocket and started its rapid descent towards the moon’s surface. Information from the its instruments was radioed to
Chandrayaan-1 by MIP. The spacecraft recorded this in its onboard memory for later readout. Finally, the probe had a hard landing on the lunar surface that terminated its functioning.

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The Chandrayan-1 moon mission - discussion group is commenting on why it took so long for the word to get out that MIP had seen indications of water when in crashed into the Moon back in November 2008. This is the link they are talking about.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/ISRO-found-water-on-moon-10-months-ago/articleshow/5057854.cms
ISRO found water on moon 10 months ago
Prashanth G N, TNN 26 September 2009, 01:00am IST
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Chandrayan-1 moon mission - discussion group
http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4395&start=1680&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/ISRO-found-water-on-moon-10-months-ago/articleshow/5057854.cms
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ISRO found water on moon 10 months ago

BANGALORE: Indian Space Research Organisation may have stolen the thunder of discovering water on the Moon.

The Moon Impact Probe on Chandrayaan-I appears to have sensed water earlier than Nasa's Moon Minerolgy Mapper (M3) but protocol did not allow ISRO to declare the discovery. While MIP detected water molecules on November 14, 2008, just 22 days after Chandrayaan-1's launch, M3 did so in March 2009.

J S Goswami, principal investigator for Chandrayaan-1, told TOI: ``We had indications of water on November 14, the day MIP crash-landed on the Moon. It sensed some sort of water molecules. We were absolutely delighted but it had to be corroborated. Without international
examination and cross-examination and confirmation of the evidence, it would not have been right on our part to go public about it.''

Mylswami Annadurai, project director, Chandrayaan-1 and 2, explained why India did not go public with the discovery. ``International protocol requires us to discuss the evidence, cross-calibrate it with experts and it goes through a peer review and gets their approval. After all this, if it's a credible finding comes the go-ahead for its publication. This process can take three to four months, sometimes even seven. Only after publication can we speak about the evidence.''

ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair said the MIP showed indications as it was crash-landing - it caught signatures of water. ``As the MIP was landing, it took some pictures that indicated the water molecules eventually found by M3.''

The MIP had picked up strong signals of water particles towards the polar region from 70 degree latitude to 80 degree latitude, according to Goswami. While this was known in November 2008, the M3 discovery of water in March 2009 was confirmed only three months later ^ in June. That's because US scientists wanted to be sure they had indeed found water and it took three months of rigorous cross-examination to confirm it. Publication after the confirmation also took time.

Officials said India scientists waited all this while to make the discovery public as they wanted the findings of such global significance to be first published in a scientific journal.
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More information and pictures at MSN.
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http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3242164&page=0
25/09/2009
India's own MIP detects water on moon: Nair, NASA thanks ISRO

Bangalore/Washington: India's own Moon Impact Probe (MIP) on board the country's maiden unmanned lunar craft had also detected evidence of water on the moon in a finding confirmed by US space agency NASA which too had an instrument onboard Chandrayaan-I.

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The NASA meanwhile thanked ISRO for enabling the discovery of water on Moon through Chandrayaan-I. "We want to thank ISRO for making the discovery possible. Moon till now was thought to be a very dry surface with lot of rocks," NASA director Jim Green told reporters in Washington.

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In Bangalore, a beaming ISRO Chief G. Madhavan Nair said the MIP while descending from Chandrayaan-I to the moon surface about a fortnight after it was launched in October picked up strong signals of water particles. Nair's remark has triggered speculation whether an Indian space mission was the first to discover water on Moon.

"Our Chandrayaan I has confirmed the presence of water molecules on the moon," he said.

Nair said "while the moon impact probe landed, it took nearly 25 minutes. It took some pictures that indicated these water molecules. Another instrument HYS1 to map minerals also helped NASA'S M3 in finding water."

Apart from India's MIP, the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) of NASA on board Chandrayaan-I also confirmed the presence of water, he said. The "quantity found is much larger than what was expected which is a real finding", he added.

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ISRO Principal Scientist J P Goswami said the MIP had picked up strong signals of water particles towards polar region from 70 degree latitude to 80 degree latitudes.

The scientists, he said, significantly had indications of the finding "way back in June" but waited all these days to make it public as they wanted the findings of such a global significance to come out in a scientific journal first.

"This surprising finding(water on moon) has come about through the ingenuity, perseverance and international cooperation between NASA and the India Space Research Organisation," Green said.

"We had indication way back in June but we did not want to announce it for the simple reason it had global significance and had to come out in a well established journal," Nair said.

The announcement of the finding has been timed with publication of the article in a journal.

"We have found signature on surface of water not in the form of sea, lake or even a poodle or even a drop you cannot pick it up just like that. It is embedded in surface in mineral and rock and we have clear indication OH and H20 are there on surface may be least for a few millimetre. The quantity was much larger than what was expeced, this is real finding", he said.

According to Goswami, whether there was water down below, the data got from the instruments were still being analysed.

"We have to wait for a while", he said. "Once we have solid results, we will talk to you at the point", he said.

"This is the first time in space research that (presence of) water is confirmed," he said, adding "we have contributed to significant discovery of water on the moon through the Chandrayaan."

Terming it "path breaking discovery" he said, it has "shattered the thought that the moon was bone dry.
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Some graphics for the briefing.
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http://www.isro.org/news/pdf/ISRO-PRESS-BRIEFING.pdf [9 page PDF file - 2.44 MB]
Chandrayaan -1
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More information on the instruments carried on Chandrayaan-1
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http://www.isro.org/Chandrayaan/htmls/psexperiments.htm
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MIP http://www.isro.org/Chandrayaan/htmls/mip.htm
Moon Impact Probe (MIP) as piggyback on the main orbiter of the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, which will impact on the surface of the moon.
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Next hopefully will be India's rover to the Moon with Chandrayaan-2 in 2013
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http://www.chandrayaan-i.com/index.php/chandrayaan-2.html
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What is Chandrayaan-2

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning 2nd moon mission Chandrayaan-2 in 2013. Russia's Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) is joining with ISRO for development of Chandrayaan-2 Lander/Rover.

Chandrayaan-2 will consist of the spacecraft and a landing platform with the moon rover.

The rover would move on wheels on the lunar surface, pick up samples of soil or rocks, do a chemical analysis and send the data to the spacecraft orbiting above.

The rover will weigh between 30 kg and 100 kg, depending on whether it is to do a semi-hard landing or soft landing. The rover will have an operating life-span of a month. It will run predominantly on solar power.
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Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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Indian scientists detect signs of life on Moon - (Really? LRK)

http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_indian-scientists-detect-signs-of-life-on-moon_1322785

Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, finishing its mission at our Moon, sends a last bit of information from the probe mass spectrometer on board the Indian payload near the south pole, "Carbon, Carbon, I sense Carbon." What could it mean, what could it mean? Could there be, or have been, life on the Moon? What say you?
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http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_indian-scientists-detect-signs-of-life-on-moon_1322785
Indian scientists detect signs of life on Moon

Bhargavi Kerur / DNA - Saturday, December 12, 2009 1:48 IST
Bangalore: Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) are on the brink of a path-breaking discovery. They may have found signs of life in some form or the other on the Moon.

They believe so because scientific instruments on India's first unmanned lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, picked up signatures of organic matter on parts of the Moon's surface, Surendra Pal, associate director, Isro Satellite Centre (Isac), said at the international radar symposium here on Friday.

Organic matter consists of organic compounds, which consists of carbon -- the building block of life.

It indicates the formation of life or decay of a once-living matter.

Pal said the signatures were relayed back to the Bylalu deep space network station near Bangalore by the mass spectrometer on board the Indian payload, the moon impact probe (MIP), on November 14, 2008.

The relay of data happened moments before it crashed near the Moon's south pole. The MIP was the first experiment of the Chandrayaan-1 mission, which was launched on October 22, 2008.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrayaan-1

Some forum discussion about the statement of possible signs of/for life on the Moon.
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http://www.bautforum.com/space-exploration/98025-indian-scientists-detect-signs-life-moon.html
Bad Astronomy and Universe Today Forum
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Did you see the movie, or read the book "The Andromeda Strain"?
I was on an airplane bound for Thailand while reading this "Top Secret" book and reports of slain animals were in the news. :-)
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andromeda_Strain
The Andromeda Strain (1969), by Michael Crichton, is a techno-thriller novel documenting the efforts of a team of scientists investigating a deadly extraterrestrial microorganism that rapidly and fatally clots human blood while, in other people, inducing insanity that mostly ended in the insane people committing suicide or murder-suicide. It became a New York Times Bestseller. This novel established Michael Crichton as a best-selling genre author.
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We have dust from space hitting us all the time, as would the Moon. Then there are meteors with hydrocarbons which may have struck the Moon as well.
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http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/research/2008/Origins_of_life_research.html
NASA Identifies Carbon-rich Molecules in Meteors as the 'Origin of Life' 09.24.08

Tons, perhaps tens of tons, of carbon molecules in dust particles and meteorites fall on Earth daily. Meteorites are especially valuable to astronomers because they provide relatively big chunks of carbon molecules that are easily analyzed in the laboratory. In the past few years, researchers have noticed that most meteorite carbon are molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are very stable compounds and are survivors.

PAHs are the most common carbon-rich compound in the universe. They are found in everything from distant galaxies to charbroiled hamburgers and engine soot. When they are first formed, or found in space, their structures resemble pieces of chicken wire, fused six-sided rings. However, when found in meteorites, these aromatic rings are carrying extra hydrogen or oxygen.

Scientists at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. performed laboratory experiments that explain the process by which these meteoritic hydrocarbons attract the extra hydrogen and oxygen. They are very similar to the molecules identified as evidence of alien
microbes in an earlier Science paper (McKay et al 1996).

“Our findings are important because it is the first time anybody explained these carbon-rich molecules found in meteorites. They are similar to the molecules that make-up living things,” said Max Bernstein, a space scientist at NASA Ames.

As it happened, their findings were judged significant enough to be award-winning. Published in Science (1999) by Bernstein and fellow NASA Ames scientists Scott Sanford and Louis Allamandola, their paper won the 2008 H. Julian Allen Award at NASA Ames Research Center.
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And of course you can talk about rocks that may have come from Mars and might show there had been life there. Makes for much discussion, and helped along with "Follow The Water",
has us with missions to the Red Planet.
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http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/snc/nasa1.html
Meteorite Yields Evidence of Primitive Life on Early Mars

A NASA research team of scientists at the Johnson Space Center (JSC), Houston, TX, and at Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, has found evidence that strongly suggests primitive life may have existed on Mars more than 3.6 billion years ago.

The NASA-funded team found the first organic molecules thought to be of Martian origin; several mineral features characteristic of biological activity; and possible microscopic fossils of primitive, bacteria-like organisms inside of an ancient Martian rock that fell to Earth as a meteorite. This array of indirect evidence of past life will be reported in the August 16 issue of the journal Science, presenting the investigation to the scientific community at large for further study.

The two-year investigation was co-led by JSC planetary scientists Dr. David McKay, Dr. Everett Gibson and Kathie Thomas-Keprta of Lockheed-Martin, with the major collaboration of a Stanford team headed by Professor of Chemistry Dr. Richard Zare, as well as six other NASA and university research partners.

"There is not any one finding that leads us to believe that this is evidence of past life on Mars. Rather, it is a combination of many things that we have found," McKay said. "They include Stanford's detection of an apparently unique pattern of organic molecules, carbon compounds that are the basis of life. We also found several unusual mineral phases that are known products of primitive microscopic organisms on Earth. Structures that could be microsopic fossils seem to support all of this. The relationship of all of these things in terms of location - within a few hundred thousandths of an inch of one another - is the most compelling evidence."
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So I guess a question might be, will the present USA administration, find life on the Moon or at least put some there?

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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NASA Radar Provides First Look Inside Moon's Shadowed Craters

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http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/jan/HQ_09-010_Moon_radar_pictures.html

WASHINGTON -- Using a NASA radar flying aboard India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, scientists are getting their first look inside the moon's coldest, darkest craters.

The Mini-SAR instrument, a lightweight, synthetic aperture radar, has passed its initial in-flight tests and sent back its first data. The images show the floors of permanently-shadowed polar craters on the moon that aren't visible from Earth. Scientists are using the instrument to map and search the insides of the craters for water ice.
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Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/