BENGALURU: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday celebrated the 16th anniversary of the successful impact of the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) of Chandrayyan-1.
Chandrayaan-1 was India’s first moon mission which was launched on October 22, 2008. The life of the mission was to be two years, but scientists lost contact with the spacecraft on August 28, 2009. But before that, on November 14, 2008, MIP separated from Chandrayyan-1 and hard landed on the lunar south pole as planned.
According to ISRO scientists, the MIP was a success as Indian scientists confirmed the existence of water on the Moon. But the finding was not made public till NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper payload onboard the Chandrayaan-1 orbiter also confirmed the finding. The announcement was then made on September 24, 2009.