Chandrayaan-1 - A new milestone

Ø 31-Oct-2008: A major milestone was reached today when the Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC) onboard Chandrayaan-1 became operational.

Ø ISRO’s press release specified two photos were beamed to the IDSN. The first imagery taken at 8am IST from a height of 9,000 km shows the northern coast of Australia while the other taken at 12.30 pm IST from a height of 70,000 km shows Australia's southern coast. Maybe a romantic side of me had wistfully expected ISRO mavericks too have designed such that first images were of India :-) Of course it's a relief to reaccept the idea that this is not only about national pride, but also about international collaboration.

Ø PTI news gave the event a bit of national political twist by saying that the Indian PM was shown the first photos :-)

Ø The Hindu and Economic Times also reported this milestone of the Chandrayaan-1.