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Chandrayaan-1: An Introduction #1

Behind the name
Chandrayaan is India's first mission to Moon.Chandrayaan-1 was first named somayaan. But later our former Prime Minister, A.B Vajpai named it Chandrayaan. In sanskrit it means "Moon traveller", Chandra being Moon and Yaana being journey. Somayaan also means journey to moon, where Soman is sanskrit for moon.
To know more click on this link Chandrayaan-1: An Introduction #2
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Chandrayaan - 1: An Introduction #2

Chandrayaan-1 was launched to GTO by PSLV C-11 rocket on 22nd October 2008 from Sathish Dhawan space center, Sriharikkotta in Nellore district of Andrapradesh. It had a weight of 316 tonnes and a height of 44.4meters.The payload(chandrayaan-1) had about 1380kg of weight, which was reduced to 675kg in the lunar orbit. After the separation of the impactor, the mass was 523kg.

When the spacecraft was launched to the GTO/EPO, the mass was only 1050kg. It used up the fuel and reached the lunar orbit when only 83kg of the fuel remained. In total there was 526kf of fuel and the dry mass of spacecraft was 440kg. It had to travel an accurate distance of 384403 km to reach the moon. Chandrayaan-1 is a cube shaped spacecraft having a length of 1.5m. It is equipped with 11 scientific instruments to accomplish its several tasks. The three-axis stabilization is provided to the spacecraft using two star sensors(suffered damage from solar radiations), two gyroscopes and four reaction wheels. The mission is now called off because the ground station is not receiving signals due to the malfunction of computers on board.
Tomorrow you can read more information on Chandrayaan-1's interiors...

Moon History

A glimpse into the lunar history...

From times immemorial man's life was connected to the celestial bodies. in the Quaternary age itself man realized there are many objects that made rounds in his routine without being noticed. It is a fact that, it is mostly the moon that has influenced his daily life, besides the sun.

He considered it as God, as a deity and transformed his life in accordance with the changes happening to it. festivals, religious functions, travel, migration, meals etc became dependent on the different phases of the Moon.
Man's enthusiasm to explore more about their miracle on the sky paved way for the many important milestones in the history of astronomy as well as man's life. The discovery of principles behind the phases of moon, knowledge on its revolutions around the earth, its physical features, the influence of moon on the oceans(causing tides), its chemical composition, theories that stated its origin etc were some of them which seek importance. one invention led to the other one. But they all remained devoid of proves until 1959, when earth sent its first lunar mission Luna-1(USSR) on January 2,(my birthday:) )which was a lunar flyby. Luna-2 which crash landed on the moon, provided magnificent evidences of the various characteristics of the surface of the Moon. the Luna-3 of USSR made available the first far side images of the moon. Luna-9 made the first lunar soft landing. Luna-10 became the first Flyby to return to earth.

Apollo -8 was the first manned mission and Apollo-10 was the first mission and orbiter. Apollo-11 took man to Moon. Apollo12, 14, 15, 16 and 17 carried man to moon, last one with the first geologist on moon. the last one was on Apollo 17, on 7th December 1972. recent missions like Hi ten(1990 Jan 24), clementine (1994 Jan 25), Lunar Prospector(1998 Jan 6), Smart-1(2003 September 27), Kaguya (2007 September 14), change-1 (2007 October 24) etc are helpful for further knowledge also. The rock samples brought from moon exhibited unbelievable similarities with that of earth's soil. the oldest rocks of moon was about the same age of the earth. The basaltic rocks of maria shows similarities to the rocks formed from the lava of the volcanoes of the earth. Even though India is far ahead than many of the world nations in different aspects the history of the 'First Indian on the space" was created only in 1984 April 7, through the Salyut 7 spacecraft. But still India missed an opportunity to send an independent spacecraft to explore the wonderful moon, until October 22, 2008. That day from Satish Dhawan Space center, Sriharikkota in Nellore district of Andra Pradesh, which is 80 km north to Chennai t the moon was launched at 6.22am. This great achievement India has ever accomplished is named Chandrayaan-1.
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Suez Canal

 

The Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigating around Africa. The northern terminus is Port Said and the southern terminus is Port Tawfik at the city of Suez.When first built, the canal was 164 km (102 mi) long, 10 m (33 ft) deep, and (at 11 meters (36 ft) depth) 44 meters (144 ft) wide. After multiple enlargements, the canal is 193.30 km (120.11 mi) long, 24 m (79 ft) deep, and 205 meters (673 ft) wide as of 2010.The canal is owned and maintained by the Suez Canal Authority[6] (SCA) of the Arab Republic of Egypt. Under international treaty, it may be used "in time of war as in time of peace, by every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag."

It is single-lane with passing places in Ballah By-Pass and in the Great Bitter Lake.[4] It contains no locks; seawater flows freely through the canal. In general, the Canal north of the Bitter Lakes flows north in winter and south in summer. The current south of the lakes changes with the tide at Suez.