ISRO: Lost in Translation

When this image appeared on the ISRO website in late November 2008, it was described as one of the last taken before the impact of the MIP ("Moon Impactor Probe"). But, was the image taken from MIP, an instant before the hardened sub-satellite hit the lunar surface "near" the Moon's south pole?" The website simply was not explicit. Based on the weak trickle of photographs shared by ISRO, Chandrayaan was obviously a wonderful surveys. Those few releases, however, were often accompanied with little or no information, missing lunar coordinates, for example. The image above may or may not be of a small crater on the slopes of Malapert Mountain - but who can tell? [ISRO]Joel RaupeLunar PioneerNow comes a team - the young scientists who developed hardened instruments designed to survive the 22 g-force impact with the Moon and report on the aftermath of the Chandrayaan sub-satellite "Moon Impactor Probe" - claiming "Indian scientists" deserve more credit for "discovery of water on the Moon."Whatever may be lost in translation, while we would like to see their data, credit for discovery of water on the Moon doesn't belong to any one country or lunar mission. Since I suspect that the team ...