Template:Infobox Spacecraft Moon Impact probe (MIP) developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India's national space agency, is a small satellite that will be carried by Chandrayaan-1 an unmanned lunar exploration mission of the ISRO.

Introduction

The spacecraft was launched along with Chandrayaan-1 by a modified version of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on 22 October 2008 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh^[1][2]. Chandrayaan-1 was successfully put into lunar orbit on 8th November 2008.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

Mission objectives

The primary objective of the mission is to demonstrate the technologies required for landing the probe at a specified location on the Moon and to qualify some of the technologies related to future soft landing missions.^[3]

• Design, development and demonstration of technologies required for impacting a probe at the desired location on the Moon.

• Qualify technologies required for future soft landing missions.

• Scientific exploration of the Moon from close range.

Payload

The MIP carries three instruments:^[4]

• Radar Altimeter – measures the altitude of the probe during descent and for qualifying technologies for future landing missions. The operating frequency band is 4.3 GHz ± 100 MHz.

• Video Imaging System – acquires close range images of the surface of the Moon during descent. The video imaging system consists of analog CCD camera.

• Mass Spectrometer measures the constituents of lunar atmosphere during descent. This instrument will be based on a quadrupole mass spectrometer with a mass resolution of 0.5 amu and sensitivities to partial pressure of the order of 10^-14 torr.