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Chandrayaan-1

Chandrayaan-1 (from Sanskrit: Chandra, "Moon" and yāna, "craft, vehicle") was the first Indian lunar probe under the Chandrayaan programme. It was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in October 2008, and operated until August 2009. The mission included an orbiter and an impactor. India launched the spacecraft using a PSLV-XL rocket on 22 October 2008 at 00:52 UTC from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The mission was a major boost to India's space program, as India researched and developed indigenous technology to explore the Moon. The vehicle was inserted into lunar orbit on 8 November 2008.

On 14 November 2008, the Moon Impact Probe separated from the Chandrayaan orbiter at 14:36 UTC and struck the south pole in a controlled manner. The probe hit near the crater Shackleton at 15:01 UTC. The location of impact was named Jawahar Point. With this mission, ISRO became the fifth national space agency to reach the lunar surface. Other nations whose national space agencies achieved similar feats were the former Soviet Union in 1959, the United States in 1962, Japan in 1993, and ESA member states in 2006.

Estimated cost for the project was inr 3860000000. It was intended to survey the lunar surface for over two years, to produce a complete map of the chemical composition at the surface and its three-dimensional topography. The polar regions were of special interest as they had high probability of presence of water ice. One of its many achievements was the discovery of the widespread presence of water molecules in lunar soil.

After almost a year, the orbiter started experiencing several technical issues including failure of the star tracker and poor thermal shielding; Chandrayaan-1 stopped communicating at about 20:00 UTC on 28 August 2009, shortly after which the ISRO officially declared that the mission was over. Chandrayaan-1 operated for 312 days as opposed to the intended two years; however, the mission achieved most of its scientific objectives, including detecting the presence of Lunar water.

On 2 July 2016, NASA used ground-based radar systems to relocate Chandrayaan-1 in its lunar orbit, almost seven years after it shut down. Repeated observations over the next three months allowed a precise determination of its orbit which varies between 150 and 270 km in altitude every two years.

History
Former Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, announced the Chandrayaan 1 project The mission was a major boost to India's space program. The idea of an Indian scientific mission to the Moon was first raised in 1999 during a meeting of the Indian Academy of Sciences. The Astronautical Society of India (ASI) began planning the implementation of such an idea in 2000. Soon after, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) set up the National Lunar Mission Task Force. The Task Force concluded that ISRO had the technical expertise to carry out an Indian mission to the Moon. In April 2003, over 100 Indian scientists spanning fields from planetary and space sciences, Earth sciences, physics, chemistry, astronomy, astrophysics, engineering, and communication sciences discussed and approved the Task Force recommendation to launch an Indian probe to the Moon. Six months later, in November, the Vajpayee government formally approved the mission.

Objectives
The mission had the following stated objectives:

 * to design, develop, launch, and orbit a spacecraft around the Moon using an Indian-made launch vehicle
 * to conduct scientific experiments using instruments on the spacecraft which would yield data:
 * for the preparation of a three-dimensional atlas (with high spatial and altitude resolution of 5 - 10 m) of both the near and far sides of the Moon
 * for chemical and mineralogical mapping of the entire lunar surface at a high spatial resolution, mapping particularly the chemical elements magnesium, aluminum, silicon, calcium, iron, titanium, radon, uranium, and thorium
 * to increase scientific knowledge
 * to test the impact of a sub-satellite (Moon Impact Probe – MIP) on the surface of the Moon as a fore-runner for future soft-landing missions

Goals
To reach its objective, the mission defined these goals:

 * High-resolution mineralogical and chemical imaging of the permanently shadowed north- and south-polar regions
 * To search for surface or sub-surface lunar water ice, especially at the lunar poles
 * Identification of chemicals in lunar highland rocks
 * Chemical stratigraphy of the lunar crust by remote sensing of the central uplands of large lunar craters, and of the South Pole Aitken Region (SPAR), an expected site of interior material
 * Mapping the height variation of features of the lunar surface
 * Observation of X-ray spectrum greater than 10 keV and stereographic coverage of most of the Moon's surface with 5 m resolution
 * Providing new insights in understanding the Moon's origin and evolution

Specifications

 * Mass
 * 1380 kg at launch, 675 kg at lunar orbit, and 523 kg after releasing the impactor.

 * Dimensions
 * Cuboid in shape of approximately 1.5 m

 * Communications
 * X band, 0.7 m diameter dual gimballed parabolic antenna for payload data transmission. The Telemetry, Tracking & Command (TTC) communication operates in S band frequency.

 * Power
 * The spacecraft was mainly powered by its solar array, which included one solar panel covering a total area of 2.15 xx generating 750 W of peak power, which was stored in a 36 A·h lithium-ion battery for use during eclipses.

 * Propulsion
 * The spacecraft used a bipropellant integrated propulsion system to reach lunar orbit as well as orbit and altitude maintenance while orbiting the Moon. The power plant consisted of one 440 N engine and eight 22 N thrusters. Fuel and oxidizer were stored in two tanks of 390 L each.

 * Navigation and control
 * The craft was 3-axis stabilized with two star sensors, gyros, and four reaction wheels. The craft carried dual redundant bus management units for attitude control, sensor processing, antenna orientation, etc.

Payload
The scientific payload had a mass of 90 kg, contained five Indian instruments and six instruments from other countries.

Indian instruments

 * TMC or the Terrain Mapping Camera is a CMOS camera with 5 m resolution and a 40 km swath in the panchromatic band and was used to produce a high-resolution map of the Moon. This instrument aimed to completely map the topography of the Moon. The camera works in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum and captures black-and-white stereo images. When used in conjunction with data from the Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI), it can help in a better understanding of the lunar gravitational field as well. TMC was built by the ISRO's Space Applications Centre (SAC) at Ahmedabad. The TMC was tested on 29 October 2008 through a set of commands issued from ISTRAC.
 * HySI or Hyper Spectral Imager is a CMOS camera, that performs mineralogical mapping in the 400–900 nm band with a spectral resolution of 15 nm and a spatial resolution of 80 m.
 * LLRI or Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument determines the height of the surface topography by sending pulses of infrared laser light toward the lunar surface and detecting the reflected portion of that light. It operated continuously and collected 10 measurements per second on both the day and night sides of the Moon. LLRI was developed by the Laboratory for Electro-Optics Systems of ISRO, Bangalore. It was tested on 16 November 2008.
 * HEX is a High Energy aj/gamma x-ray spectrometer for 30–200 keV measurements with a ground resolution of 40 km, the HEX measured U, Th, 210Pb, 222Rn degassing, and other radioactive elements.
 * MIP or the Moon Impact Probe developed by the ISRO is an impact probe that consists of a C-band Radar altimeter for measurement of the altitude of the probe, a video imaging system for acquiring images of the lunar surface, and a mass spectrometer for measuring the constituents of the lunar atmosphere. It was ejected at 14:30 UTC on 14 November 2008. As planned, the Moon Impact Probe impacted the lunar south pole at 15:01 UTC on 14 November 2008. ISRO was the fifth national space agency to reach the surface of the Moon. Other national space agencies to have done so prior were the former Soviet Union in 1959, the United States in 1962, Japan in 1993, and ESA in 2006.

Instruments from other countries

 * C1XS or X-ray fluorescence spectrometer covering 1–10 keV, mapped the abundance of Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, and Fe at the surface with a ground resolution of 25 km, and monitored solar flux. This payload results from the collaboration between Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, U.K, ESA and ISRO. It was activated on 23 November 2008.
 * SARA, the Sub-keV Atom Reflecting Analyser from the ESA mapped mineral composition using low energy neutral atoms emitted from the surface.
 * M3, the Moon Mineralogy Mapper from Brown University and JPL (funded by NASA) is an imaging spectrometer designed to map the surface mineral composition. It was activated on 17 December 2008.
 * SIR-2, a near-infrared spectrometer from ESA, built at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Polish Academy of Science, and University of Bergen, also mapped the mineral composition using an infrared grating spectrometer. The instrument is similar to that of the Smart-1 SIR. It was activated on 19 November 2008 and scientific observations were started on 20 November 2008.
 * Mini-SAR, designed, built, and tested for NASA by a large team that includes the Naval Air Warfare Center, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman, with outer support from ISRO. Mini-SAR is the active Synthetic Aperture Radar system to search for lunar polar ice and water ice. The instrument transmitted right polarised radiation with a frequency of 2.5 GHz and monitored scattered left and right polarised radiation. The Fresnel reflectivity and the circular polarisation ratio (CPR) are the key parameters deduced from these measurements. Ice shows the Coherent Backscatter Opposition Effect, which results in an enhancement of reflections and CPR so that the water content of the Moon's polar regions can be estimated.
 * RADOM-7, Radiation Dose Monitor Experiment from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences mapped the radiation environment around the Moon. It was tested on 16 November 2008.

Mission timeline
During the tenure of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Chandrayaan project got a boost and finally Chandrayaan-1 was launched on 22 October 2008 at 00:52 UTC from Satish Dhawan Space Centre using the ISRO's 44.4 m tall, four-stage PSLV C11 launch vehicle. Chandrayaan-1 was sent to the Moon in a series of orbit-increasing manoeuvres around the Earth over a period of 21 days as opposed to launching the craft on a direct trajectory to the Moon. At launch the spacecraft was inserted into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) with an apogee of 22860 km and a perigee of 255 km. The apogee was increased with a series of five orbit burns conducted over a period of 13 days after launch.

For the duration of the mission, ISRO's telemetry, tracking and command network (ISTRAC) at Peenya in Bangalore, tracked and controlled Chandrayaan-1. Scientists from India, Europe, and the U.S. conducted a high-level review of Chandrayaan-1 on 29 January 2009 after the spacecraft completed its first 100 days in space.

Earth orbit burns
The first orbit-raising manoeuvre of the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was performed at 03:30&nbsp UTC on 23 October 2008 when the spacecraft's 440 Newton liquid engine was fired for about 18 minutes by commanding the spacecraft from Spacecraft Control Centre (SCC) at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Peenya, Bangalore. With this Chandrayaan-1's apogee was raised to 37900 km, and its perigee to 305 km. In this orbit, the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft took about 11 hours to go around the Earth once.
 * First orbit burn

The second orbit-raising manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was carried out on 25 October 2008 at 00:18 UTC when the spacecraft's engine was fired for about 16 minutes, raising its apogee to 74715 km, and its perigee to 336 km, thus completing 20 percent of its journey. In this orbit, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft took about twenty-five and a half hours to go round the Earth once. This was the first time an Indian spacecraft went beyond the 36000 km high geostationary orbit and reached an altitude more than twice that height.
 * Second orbit burn

The third orbit raising manoeuvre was initiated on 26 October 2008 at 01:38 UTC when the spacecraft's engine was fired for about nine and a half minutes. With this its apogee was raised to 164600 km, and the perigee to 348 km. In this orbit, Chandrayaan-1 took about 73 hours to go around the Earth once.
 * Third orbit burn

The fourth orbit-raising maneuver took place on 29 October 2008 at 02:08 UTC when the spacecraft's engine was fired for about three minutes, raising its apogee to 267000 km and the perigee to 465 km. This extended its orbit to a distance more than half the way to the Moon. In this orbit, the spacecraft took about six days to go around the Earth once.
 * Fourth orbit burn

The fifth and final orbit raising manoeuvre was carried out on 3 November 2008 at 23:26 UTC when the spacecraft's engine was fired for about two and a half minutes resulting in Chandrayaan-1 entering the Lunar Transfer Trajectory with an apogee of about 380000 km.
 * Final orbit burn

Lunar orbit insertion
Chandrayaan-1 completed the lunar orbit insertion operation on 8 November 2008 at 11:21 UTC. This manoeuvre involved firing of the liquid engine for 817 seconds (about thirteen and half minutes) when the spacecraft passed within 500 km from the Moon. The satellite was placed in an elliptical orbit that passed over the polar regions of the Moon, with 7502 km aposelene and 504 km periselene. The orbital period was estimated to be around 11 hours. With the successful completion of this operation, India became the fifth nation to put a vehicle in lunar orbit.

First Lunar Orbit Reduction Manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1 was carried out on 9 November 2008 at 14:33 UTC. During this, the engine of the spacecraft was fired for about 57 seconds. This reduced the periselene to 200 km while aposelene remained unchanged at 7,502 km. In this elliptical orbit, Chandrayaan-1 took about ten and a half hours to circle the Moon once.
 * First orbit reduction

This manoeuvre was carried out on 10 November 2008 at 16:28 UTC, resulting in a steep decrease in Chandrayaan-1's aposelene to 255 km and its periselene to 187 km, During this manoeuvre, the engine was fired for about 866 seconds (about fourteen and a half minutes). Chandrayaan-1 took two hours and 16 minutes to go around the Moon once in this orbit.
 * Second orbit reduction

Third Lunar Orbit Reduction was carried out by firing the onboard engine for 31 seconds on 11 November 2008 at 13:00 UTC. This reduced the periselene to 101 km, while the aposelene remained constant at 255 km. In this orbit Chandrayaan-1 took two hours and 9 minutes to go around the Moon once.
 * Third orbit reduction

Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was placed into a mission-specific lunar polar orbit of 100 km above the lunar surface on 12 November 2008. In the final orbit reduction manoeuvre, Chandrayaan-1's aposelene and periselene were both reduced to 100 km. In this orbit, Chandrayaan-1 takes about two hours to go around the Moon once. Two of the 11 payloads—the Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC) and the Radiation Dose Monitor (RADOM)—were switched on. The TMC acquired images of both the Earth and the Moon.
 * Final orbit

Impact of the MIP on the lunar surface
The Moon Impact Probe (MIP) crash-landed on the lunar surface on 14 November 2008, 15:01 UTC near the crater Shackleton at the south pole. The MIP was one of eleven scientific instruments (payloads) on board Chandrayaan-1.

The MIP separated from Chandrayaan at 100 km from lunar surface and began its nosedive at 14:36 UTC. going into free fall for thirty minutes. As it fell, it kept sending information back to the mother satellite which, in turn, beamed the information back to Earth. The altimeter then also began recording measurements to prepare for a rover to land on the lunar surface during a second Moon mission.

Following the deployment of the MIP, the other scientific instruments were turned on, starting the next phase of the mission.

After scientific analyses of the received data from the MIP, the Indian Space Research Organisation confirmed the presence of water in the lunar soil and published the finding in a press conference addressed by its then Chairman G. Madhavan Nair.

Rise of spacecraft's temperature
ISRO had reported on 25 November 2008 that Chandrayaan-1's temperature had risen above normal to 50 C, Scientists said that it was caused by higher than expected temperatures in lunar orbit. The temperature was brought down by about 10 C-change by rotating the spacecraft about 20 degrees and switching off some of the instruments. Subsequently, ISRO reported on 27 November 2008 that the spacecraft was operating under normal temperature conditions. In subsequent reports ISRO says, since the spacecraft was still recording higher than normal temperatures, it would be running only one instrument at a time until January 2009 when lunar orbital temperature conditions are said to stabilize. It was initially thought that the spacecraft was experiencing high temperature because of radiation from the Sun and infrared radiation reflected by the Moon. However the rise in spacecraft temperature was later attributed to a batch of DC-DC converters with poor thermal regulation.

Mapping of minerals
The mineral content on the lunar surface was mapped with the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), a NASA instrument on board the orbiter. The presence of iron was reiterated and changes in rock and mineral composition have been identified. The Oriental Basin region of the Moon was mapped, and it indicates abundance of iron-bearing minerals such as pyroxene.

In 2018 it was announced that M3 infrared data had been re-analyzed to confirm the existence of water across wide expanses of the Moon's polar regions.

Mapping of Apollo landing sites
ISRO announced in January 2009 the completion of the mapping of the Apollo Moon missions landing sites by the orbiter, using multiple payloads. Six of the sites have been mapped, including the landing sites of Apollo 15 and Apollo 17.

Image acquisition
The craft completed 3,000 orbits acquiring 70,000 images of the lunar surface,  which is quite a record compared to the lunar flights of other nations. ISRO officials estimated that if more than 40,000 images have been transmitted by Chandrayaan's cameras in 75 days, it worked out to nearly 535 images being sent daily. They were first transmitted to Indian Deep Space Network at Byalalu near Bangalore, from where they were flashed to ISRO's Telemetry Tracking And Command Network (ISTRAC) at Bangalore.

Some of these images have a resolution of down to 5 m, providing a sharp and clear picture of the Moon's surface, while many images sent by some of the other missions had only a 100-metre resolution. For comparison, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera has a 0.5 meter resolution.

On 26 November, the indigenous Terrain Mapping Camera, which was first activated on 29 October 2008, acquired images of peaks and craters. This came as a surprise to ISRO officials because the Moon consists mostly of craters.

Detection of X-Ray signals
The X-ray signatures of aluminium, magnesium and silicon were picked up by the C1XS X-ray camera. The signals were picked up during a solar flare that caused an X-ray fluorescence phenomenon. The flare that caused the fluorescence was within the lowest C1XS sensitivity range.

Full Earth image
On 25 March 2009 Chandrayaan beamed back its first images of the Earth in its entirety. These images were taken with the TMC. Previous imaging was done on only one part of the Earth. The new images show Asia, parts of Africa and Australia with India being in the centre.

Orbit raised to 200 km
After the completion of all the major mission objectives, the orbit of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, which had been at a height of 100 km from the lunar surface since November 2008, was raised to 200 km. The orbit-raising manoeuvres were carried out between 03:30 and 04:30&nbsp UTC on 19 May 2009. The spacecraft at this higher altitude enabled further studies on orbit perturbations and gravitational field variation of the Moon and also enabled imaging of the lunar surface with a wider swath. It was later revealed that the true reason for the orbit change was that it was an attempt to keep the temperature of the probe down. It was "...assumed that the temperature [of the spacecraft subsystems] at 100 km above the Moon's surface would be around 75 degrees Celsius. However, it was more than 75 degrees and problems started to surface. We had to raise the orbit to 200 km."

Attitude sensor failure
The star tracker, a device used for pointing attitude determination (orientation), failed in orbit after nine months of operation. Afterward, the orientation of Chandrayaan was determined using a back-up procedure using a two-axis Sun sensor and taking a bearing from an Earth station. This was used to update three axis gyroscopes which enabled spacecraft operations. The second failure, detected on 16 May, was attributed to excessive radiation from the Sun.

Radar scans
On 21 August 2009 Chandrayaan-1 along with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter attempted to perform a bistatic radar experiment using their Mini-SAR radars to detect the presence of water ice on the lunar surface. The attempt was a failure; it turned out the Chandrayaan-1 radar was not pointed at the Moon during the experiment.

The Mini-SAR has imaged many of the permanently shadowed regions that exist at both poles of the Moon. In March 2010, it was reported that the Mini-SAR on board the Chandrayaan-1 had discovered more than 40 permanently darkened craters near the Moon's north pole which are hypothesized to contain an estimated 600 million metric tonnes of water-ice. The radar's high CPR is not uniquely diagnostic of either roughness or ice; the science team must take into account the environment of the occurrences of high CPR signal to interpret its cause. The ice must be relatively pure and at least a couple of meters thick to give this signature. The estimated amount of water ice potentially present is comparable to the quantity estimated from the previous mission of Lunar Prospector's neutron data.

Although the results are consistent with recent findings of other NASA instruments onboard Chandrayaan-1 (the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (MP3) discovered water molecules in the Moon's polar regions, while water vapour was detected by NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS ) this observation is not consistent with the presence of thick deposits of nearly pure water ice within a few meters of the lunar surface, but it does not rule out the presence of small (<~10 cm), discrete pieces of ice mixed in with the regolith.

End of the mission
The mission was launched on 22 October 2008 and expected to operate for two years. However, around 20:00 UTC on 28 August 2009 communication with the spacecraft was suddenly lost. The probe had operated for 312 days. The craft had been expected to remain in orbit for approximately another 1000 days and to crash into the lunar surface in late 2012, although in 2016 it was found to still be in orbit.

A member of the science advisory board of Chandrayaan-1 said that it is difficult to ascertain reasons for the loss of contact. ISRO Chairman Madhavan Nair said that due to very high radiation, power-supply units controlling both the computer systems on board failed, snapping the communication connectivity. However, information released later showed that the power supply supplied by MDI failed due to overheating.

Although the mission was less than 10 months in duration, and less than half the intended two years in length, a review by scientists termed the mission successful, as it had completed 95% of its primary objectives.

Results
Chandrayaan's NASA Instrument Moon Mineralogy Mapper has confirmed the magma ocean hypothesis, meaning that the Moon was once completely molten.

The terrain mapping camera on board Chandrayaan-1, besides producing more than 70,000 three dimensional images, has recorded images of the landing site of U.S. spacecraft Apollo 15.

TMC and HySI payloads of ISRO have covered about 70% of the lunar surface, while M3 covered more than 95% of the same and SIR-2 has provided high-resolution spectral data on the mineralogy of the Moon.

Indian Space Research Organisation said interesting data on lunar polar areas was provided by Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI) and High Energy X-ray Spectrometer (HEX) of ISRO as well as Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar (Mini-SAR) of the US.

LLRI covered both the lunar poles and additional lunar regions of interest, HEX made about 200 orbits over the lunar poles and Mini-SAR provided complete coverage of both North and South Polar Regions of the Moon.

Another ESA payload – Chandrayaan-1 imaging X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS) – detected more than two dozen weak solar flares during the mission duration. The Bulgarian payload called Radiation Dose Monitor (RADOM) was activated on the day of the launch itself and worked until the mission's end.

ISRO said scientists from India and participating agencies expressed satisfaction on the performance of Chandrayaan-1 mission as well as the high quality of data sent by the spacecraft.

They have started formulating science plans based on the data sets obtained from the mission. It is expected that in the next few months, interesting results about lunar topography, mineral and chemical contents of the Moon and related aspects are expected to be published.

The Chandrayaan-1 payload has enabled scientists to study the interaction between the solar wind and a planetary body like the Moon without a magnetic field.

In its 10-month orbit around the Moon, Chandrayaan-1's X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS) detected titanium, confirmed the presence of calcium, and gathered the most accurate measurements yet of magnesium, aluminium and iron on the lunar surface.

Lunar water discovery

On 18 November 2008, the Moon Impact Probe was released from Chandrayaan-1 at a height of 100 km. During its 25-minute descent, Chandra's Altitudinal Composition Explorer (CHACE) recorded evidence of water in 650 mass spectra readings gathered during this time. On 24 September 2009 Science journal reported that the NASA Instrument Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) on Chandrayaan-1 had detected water ice on the Moon. But, on 25 September 2009, ISRO announced that the MIP, another instrument on board Chandrayaan-1, had discovered water on the Moon just before impact and had discovered it 3 months before NASA's M3. The announcement of this discovery was not made until NASA confirmed it.

M3 detected absorption features near 2.8–3.0 μm on the surface of the Moon. For silicate bodies, such features are typically attributed to hydroxyl- and/or water-bearing materials. On the Moon, the feature is seen as a widely distributed absorption that appears strongest at cooler high latitudes and at several fresh feldspathic craters. The general lack of correlation of this feature in sunlit M3 data with neutron spectrometer H abundance data suggests that the formation and retention of OH and H2O is an ongoing surficial process. OH/H2O production processes may feed polar cold traps and make the lunar regolith a candidate source of volatiles for human exploration.

The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), an imaging spectrometer, was one of the 11 instruments on board Chandrayaan-I that came to a premature end on 28 August 2009. M3 was aimed at providing the first mineral map of the entire lunar surface. M3 data were reanalyzed years later and revealed "the most definitive proof to date" of the presence of water in shaded regions of craters near the Moon's north and south poles.

Lunar scientists had discussed the possibility of water repositories for decades. They are now increasingly "confident that the decades-long debate is over" a report says. "The Moon, in fact, has water in all sorts of places; not just locked up in minerals, but scattered throughout the broken-up surface, and, potentially, in blocks or sheets of ice at depth." The results from the Chandrayaan mission are also "offering a wide array of watery signals."

Lunar water production
According to European Space Agency (ESA) scientists, the lunar regolith (a loose collection of irregular dust grains making up the Moon's surface) absorbs hydrogen nuclei from solar winds. Interaction between the hydrogen nuclei and oxygen present in the dust grains is expected to produce hydroxyl (HO-) and water (H2O).

The SARA (Sub keV Atom Reflecting Analyser) instrument developed by ESA and the Indian Space Research Organisation was designed and used to study the Moon's surface composition and solar-wind/surface interactions. SARA's results highlight a mystery: not every hydrogen nucleus is absorbed. One out of every five rebounds into space, combining to form an atom of hydrogen. Hydrogen shoots off at speeds of around 200 km/s and escapes without being deflected by the Moon's weak gravity. This knowledge provides timely advice for scientists who are readying ESA's BepiColombo mission to Mercury, as that spacecraft will carry two instruments similar to SARA.

Lunar caves
Chandrayaan-1 imaged a lunar rille, formed by an ancient lunar lava flow, with an uncollapsed segment indicating the presence of a lunar lava tube, a type of large cave below the lunar surface. The tunnel, which was discovered near the lunar equator, is an empty volcanic tube, measuring about 2 km in length and 360 m in width. According to A. S. Arya, scientist SF of Ahmedabad-based Space Application Centre (SAC), this could be a potential site for human settlement on the Moon. Earlier, Japanese Lunar orbiter SELENE (Kaguya) also recorded evidence for other caves on the Moon.

Tectonism
Data from the microwave sensor (Mini-SAR) of Chandrayaan-1 processed using the image analysis software ENVI, has revealed a good amount of past tectonic activity on the lunar surface. The researchers think that the faults and fractures discovered could be features of past interior tectonic activity coupled with meteorite impacts.

Awards

 * The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has selected ISRO's Chandrayaan-1 mission as one of the recipients of its annual AIAA SPACE 2009 awards, which recognises key contributions to space science and technology.
 * The International Lunar Exploration Working Group awarded the Chandrayaan-1 team the International Co-operation Award in 2008 for accommodation and tests of the most international lunar payload ever (from 20 countries, including India, the European Space Agency of 17 countries, US, and Bulgaria).
 * US-based National Space Society awarded ISRO the 2009 Space Pioneer Award in the science and engineering category, for the Chandrayaan-1 mission.

Team
The scientists considered instrumental to the success of the Chandrayaan-1 project are:

 * G. Madhavan Nair – chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation
 * T. K. Alex – Director, ISAC (ISRO Satellite Centre)
 * Mylswamy Annadurai – Project Director, Chandrayan-1
 * S. K. Shivkumar – Director – Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network
 * M. Pitchaimani – Operations Director, Chandrayaan-1
 * Leo Jackson John – Spacecraft Operations Manager, Chandrayaan-1
 * K. Radhakrishnan – Director, VSSC
 * George Koshy – Mission Director, PSLV-C11
 * Srinivasa Hegde – Mission Director, Chandrayaan-1
 * Jitendra Nath Goswami – Director of Physical Research Laboratory and Principal Scientific Investigator of Chandrayaan-1
 * Madhavan Chandradathan – Head, Launch Authorization Board, Chandrayan-1

Public release of data
Data gathered by Chandrayaan-I was made available to the public by the end of the year 2010. The data was split into two seasons with the first season going public by the end of 2010 and the second going public by the mid of 2011. The data contained pictures of the Moon and also data of chemical and mineral mapping of the lunar surface.

Follow-up missions
Chandrayaan-2 is a follow-up mission which was launched on 22 July 2019. The mission includes a lunar orbiter, a lander named Vikram and a robotic lunar rover named Pragyan. While a last-minute glitch in the landing guidance software resulted in the lander crashing, the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter is operational. A third mission, called Chandrayaan-3 was launched on 14 July 2023 and it successfully soft-landed on Moon on 23 August 2023

Lunar outpost
Chandrayaan's imagery will be used to identify regions of interest that will be explored in detail by the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The interest lies in identifying lunar water on the surface that can be exploited in setting up a future lunar outpost. The Mini-SAR, one of the U.S. payloads on Chandrayaan, was used to determine the presence of water ice.

title: Chandrayaan-1


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Seven Sisters (Moscow)

The Seven Sisters (Сталинские высотки) are a group of seven skyscrapers in Moscow designed in the Stalinist style. They were built from 1947 to 1953. At the time of construction, they were the tallest buildings in Europe, and the main building of Moscow State University remained the tallest building in Europe until 1990.

The seven are: Hotel Ukraina, Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Apartments, the Kudrinskaya Square Building, the Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya Hotel, the main building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the main building of Moscow State University, and the Red Gates Administrative Building. There were two more skyscrapers in the same style planned that were never built: the Zaryadye Administrative Building and the Palace of the Soviets.

History

The construction of the first Soviet skyscraper project, the Palace of the Soviets, was interrupted by the German invasion of 1941, at which point the steel frame was scrapped in order to fortify the Moscow defense ring, and the site was abandoned. Between 1947 and 1956, Boris Iofan presented six new drafts for this site, and also for Vorobyovy Gory on a smaller scale—they were all rejected. In 1946, Stalin personally switched to another idea—construction of vysotki, a chain of reasonably-sized skyscrapers not tarnished by the memories of the Comintern. As Nikita Khrushchev recalled Stalin's words, "We won the war ... foreigners will come to Moscow, walk around, and there are no skyscrapers. If they compare Moscow to capitalist cities, it's a moral blow to us". Sites were selected in between January 1947 (the official decree on vysotki) and September 12, 1947 (formal opening ceremony).

Nothing is known about selection of construction sites or design evaluation; this process (1947–1948) was kept secret, a sign of Stalin's personal tight management. Old professionals like Shchusev, Zholtovsky etc., were not involved. Instead, the job was given to the next generation of mature architects. In 1947, the oldest of them, Vladimir Gelfreikh, was 62. The youngest, Mikhail Posokhin, was 37. Individual commissions were ranked according to each architect's status, and clearly segmented into two groups—four first-class and four second-class towers. Job number one, a Vorobyovy Gory tower that would become Moscow State University, was awarded to Lev Rudnev, a new leader of his profession. Rudnev received his commission only in September 1948, and employed hundreds of professional designers. He released his draft in early 1949. Dmitry Chechulin received two commissions.

In April 1949, the winner of the Stalin Prize for 1948 was announced. All eight design teams received first and second class awards, according to their project status, regardless of their architectural value. At this stage, these were conceptual drafts; often one would be cancelled and others would be altered.

All the buildings employed over-engineered steel frames with concrete ceilings and masonry infill, based on concrete slab foundations (in the case of the university building—7 meters thick). Exterior ceramic tiles, panels up to 15 square meters, were secured with stainless steel anchors. The height of these buildings was not limited by political will, but by lack of technology and experience—the structures were far heavier than American skyscrapers.

The effect of this project on real urban needs can be seen from these numbers: In other words, the resources diverted for this project effectively halved housing construction rates. On the other hand, the new construction plants, built for this project (like Kuchino Ceramics ), were fundamental to Khrushchev's residential program just a few years later.
 * In 1947, 1948, and 1949 respectively, Moscow built a total of 100,000, 270,000, and 405,000 square meters of housing.
 * The skyscraper project exceeded 500,000 square meters (at a higher cost per meter)

Moscow buildings
Buildings are listed under their current names, in the same order as they appeared in the April 1949 Stalin Prize decree. Different sources report different number of levels and height, depending on inclusion of mechanical floors and uninhabited crown levels.

Moscow State University

Boris Iofan made a mistake placing his draft skyscraper right on the edge of Vorob'yovskie Gory. The site was a potential landslide hazard. He made a worse mistake by insisting on his decision and was promptly replaced by Lev Rudnev, a 53-year-old rising star of Stalin's establishment. Rudnev had already built high-profile edifices like the 1932–1937 M. V. Frunze Military Academy and the 1947 Marshals' Apartments (Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya, 28), which earned the highest credits of the Party. He set the building 800 meters away from the cliff.

The building was constructed in part by several thousand Gulag inmates. When the construction was nearing completion, some inmates were housed on the 24th and 25th levels to reduce transportation costs and the number of guards required.

The main tower, which consumed over 40,000 metric tons of steel, was inaugurated on September 1, 1953. At 787.4 feet or 240 meters tall, it was the tallest building in Europe from its completion until 1990. It is still the tallest educational building in the world.

Hotel Ukraina

Ukraina by Arkady Mordvinov and Vyacheslav Oltarzhevsky (leading Soviet expert on steel-framed highrise construction) is the second tallest of the "sisters" (198 meters, 34 levels). It was the tallest hotel in the world from the time of its construction until the Peachtree Plaza Hotel opened in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1975.

Construction on the low river bank meant that the builders had to dig well below the water level. This was solved by an ingenious water retention system, using a perimeter of needle pumps driven deep into ground.

The hotel reopened its doors again after a 3-year-renovation on April 28, 2010, now a part of Radisson Collection Hotels Group, Moscow, with 505 bedrooms and 38 apartments. The hotel was acquired by billionaire property investor God Nisanov for £59 million during an auction in 2005. He co-owns it with Zarakh Iliev.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

This 172-meter, 27-story building was built between 1948 and 1953 and overseen by V. G. Gelfreih and A. B. Minkus. Currently, it houses the offices for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Russian Federation. The Ministry is covered by a light external stone wall with projecting pilasters and pylons. Its interior is splendidly decorated with stones and metals. According to the 1982 biography of Minkus, draft plans were first drawn up in 1946 and ranged from 9 to 40 stories. In 1947 two designs were proposed: one used layered setbacks while the other called for a more streamlined construction which culminated into a blunt rectangular top. The second proposal was accepted but as the Ministry's completion neared, a metal spire, dyed to match the building's exterior (and presumably ordered by Joseph Stalin), was hastily added to tower's roof, assimilating its silhouette with those of the other Sisters.

Leningradskaya Hotel

Originally known simply as the Leningradskaya Hotel, this relatively small (136 meters, 26 floors, of which 19 are usable) building by Leonid Polyakov on Komsomolskaya Square is decorated with pseudo-Russian ornaments mimicking Alexey Shchusev's Kazansky Rail Terminal. Inside, it was inefficiently planned. Khrushchev, in his 1955 decree "On liquidation of excesses ..." asserted that at least 1,000 rooms could be built for the cost of Leningradskaya's 354, that only 22% of the total space was rentable, and that the costs per bed were 50% higher than in Moskva Hotel. Following this critique, Polyakov was stripped of his 1948 Stalin Prize but retained the other one, for a Moscow Metro station. After a multimillion-dollar renovation ending in 2008, the hotel re-opened as the Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya.

Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building

Another of Chechulin's works, 176 meters high, with 22 usable levels, the Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building was strategically placed at the confluence of the Moskva River and Yauza River. The building incorporates an earlier 9-story apartment block facing Moskva River, by the same architects (completed in 1940). It was intended as an elite housing building. However, very soon after construction, units were converted to multi-family kommunalka (communal apartments). Its design was neo-gothic, though it also drew inspiration from Hotel Metropol.

Kudrinskaya Square Building

Designed by Mikhail Posokhin (Sr.) and Ashot Mndoyants. 160 metres tall, 22 floors (18 usable in the wings and 22 in the central part). The building is located on the end of Krasnaya Presnya street, facing the Sadovoye Koltso and was primarily built as high-end apartments for Soviet cultural leaders rather than politicians.

Red Gate Administrative Building

Designed by Alexey Dushkin of the Moscow Metro fame, this mixed-use block of 11-storey buildings is crowned with a slim tower (total height 133 meters, 24 levels).

In this case, cryotechnology was indeed used for the escalator tunnels connecting the building with the Krasniye Vorota subway station. The building's frame was erected deliberately tilted to one side; when the frozen soil thawed, it settled down – although not enough for a perfect horizontal level. Then the builders warmed the soil by pumping hot water; this worked too well, and the structure slightly overreacted, tilting to the opposite side but well within tolerance.

Zaryadye Administrative Building (never built)

In 1934, the Commissariat for Heavy Industries initiated a design contest for its new building on Red Square (on the site of State Universal Store, GUM). A last showcase for constructivists, this contest didn't materialize and GUM still stands.

In 1947, the nearby medieval Zaryadye district was razed to make way for the new 32-story, 275-meter tower (the numbers are quoted as in the 1951 finalized draft). It is sometimes associated with the Ministry of Heavy Machinery, the same institution that ran a contest in 1934. However, in all public documents of this time its name is simply the administrative building, without any specific affiliation. Likewise, association with Lavrentiy Beria is mostly anecdotal.

The tower, designed by Chechulin, was supposed to be the second largest after the university. Eventually, the plans were cancelled at the foundation stage; these foundations were used later for the construction of the Rossiya Hotel (also by Chechulin, 1967, demolished 2006–2007).

Other cities
While many cities in the former USSR and former Soviet Bloc countries have Stalinist skyscrapers, few fall in the same league as the Moscow vysotki. Of these three, Hotel Ukraina in Kyiv was completed in stripped-down form, without the tower and steeple originally planned for them.

Kyiv: Hotel Moscow – Hotel Ukraina

Plans to build a skyscraper on the site of the destroyed Ginzburg Hotel emerged in 1948, but the design was finalized by Anatoly Dobrovolsky as late as 1954, when Stalinist architecture was already doomed. Building work proceeded slowly, with numerous political orders to make it simpler and cheaper. It was completed in 1961, without a tower, steeple and any original ornaments.

Warsaw: Palace of Culture and Science, 1952–1955

Another design by Lev Rudnev, with Polish Renaissance Revival detailing. Built in 1952–1955 (topped out October 1953). Construction plans were agreed upon on April 5, 1952, and sealed during Vyacheslav Molotov's visit in Warsaw on July 3 of the same year (after the opening ceremony on May 1). The Soviets planned it as a university, but the Polish side insisted on its current administrative function. A workforce of around 7,000 was nearly evenly split between Poles and imported Soviet laborers; 16 were presumably killed during the work. The building remained the tallest in Poland until the Varso Tower, a modern glass skyscraper, was constructed in Warsaw in 2021.

Bucharest: House of the Free Press, 1952–1956

Construction began in 1952 and was completed in 1956. The building was named Combinatul Poligrafic Casa Scînteii "I.V.Stalin" and later Casa Scînteii (Scînteia was the name of the Romanian Communist Party's official newspaper). It was designed by the architect Horia Maicu, and was intended to house all of Bucharest's printing presses, the newsrooms and their staff. Its height is 91.6 m without the television antenna, which measures an additional 12.4 m.

Prague: Hotel Družba, 1952–1954

The largest Stalinist architecture building in Prague, Czech Republic. The building was built between 1952 and 1954 at the order of Defence minister Alexej Čepička. It is 88 m high (the roof is 67 m, plus a 10 m chalice and a 1.5 m red star) and has sixteen floors. Part of the building was a fallout shelter for 600 people, currently used as a staff clothes room.

Riga: Latvian Academy of Sciences, 1951–1961

Initially planned as House of Kolkhoz workers (Kolhoznieku nams), construction was started in 1951 and finished in 1958, although the building was officially opened only in 1961. Upon finishing the building was turned over to the Latvian Academy of Sciences. It has 21 floors and a conference hall that seats 1,000 people.

The 108-meter high Academy is not the tallest building in Riga. Unlike other vysotki, which are based on a steel frame with masonry infill, this is a reinforced concrete structure, the first of its kind in the USSR.

Related buildings
Many Stalinist buildings have tower crowns, but they do not belong to the vysotki project and their style is completely different. This is evident in Chechulin's Peking Hotel building. Seen from a low point of the Garden Ring south, it could be mistaken for a skyscraper, but if viewed from Triumfalnaya Square it is clear that the building is far less imposing. There are also several smaller Stalinesque towers in Barnaul, St. Petersburg and other cities. Design and construction of such towers became widespread in the early 1950s, although many ongoing projects were cancelled in 1955, when regional "skyscrapers" were specifically addressed by Nikita Khrushchev's decree "On liquidation of architectural excesses..." as unacceptable expense.

Triumph Palace, Moscow, 2003
The high-profile Triumph Palace tower in north-western Moscow (3, Chapayevsky Lane), completed in December 2003, attempts to imitate the vysotki, and actually exceeds the university building in structural height. It is criticized for being placed deeply inside a residential mid-rise area, away from major avenues and squares, where it could be an important visual anchor. A close inspection reveals that this white and red tower has little in common with Stalinist style, except for sheer size and layered tower outline. It competes for the 'Eighth Vysotka' title with an earlier Edelweiss Tower in western Moscow. Construction began in 2001. The 57-story building, containing about 1,000 luxury apartments, was topped out on December 20, 2003, and, at the time, was Europe's tallest building at 264.1 metres or 867 feet.

Triumph Astana, 2006
The Triumph Tower of Astana is a 142 m, 39-story residential building in the Kazakhstan capital that was completed in 2006. Modeled after 1950s Soviet high-rise buildings, the complex includes a cinema, restaurants, a center of children's development, and a shopping center.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Seven Sisters (Moscow)


text:
Zhou Zuoren

Zhou Zuoren (16 January 1885 – 6 May 1967) was a Chinese writer, primarily known as an essayist and a translator. He was the younger brother of Lu Xun (Zhou Shuren, 周树人), the second of three brothers.

Early life
Born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, Zhou Zuoren was educated at the Jiangnan Naval Academy as a teenager before moving to Japan in 1906, following his brother’s footsteps. During his stint in Japan, he began studying Ancient Greek, with the aim of translating the Gospels into Classical Chinese, and attended lectures on Chinese philology by scholar-revolutionary Zhang Binglin at Rikkyo University, although he was supposed to study civil engineering there. He returned to China in 1911, with his Japanese wife, and began to teach in different institutions.

During the May Fourth Movement
Writing essays in vernacular Chinese for the magazine La Jeunesse, Zhou was a figure in the May Fourth Movement as well as the New Culture Movement. He was an advocate of literary reform. In 1918, Zhou Zuoren, then a literature professor at Peking University, published an article titled “Human Literature”, insisting on mutual understanding and sympathy between each other, and required a “recognition of the existence of the same kind”. In the article, he attacked specifically such thematics in literature as children sacrificing themselves for the sake of their parents and wives being buried alive to accompany dead husbands. Meanwhile, Zhou made a distinction between "democratic" and "popular" literature by identifying the former as literature that studies human life rather than written for the common people to read. Zhou condemned elite traditional performances like the Beijing opera. He called it "disgusting," "nauseating," "pretentious" and referred to the singing as "a weird inhuman sound."

Later life
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Zhou is seen as a collaborator with the Japanese occupation, and has been regarded by some Japanese as one of the three Chinese in modern times who "truly understands Japan". In 1945, Zhou was arrested for treason by the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek, stemming from his alleged collaboration with the Wang Jingwei government during the Japanese occupation of north China. He was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in 1947. In January 1949, shortly before the liberation, the Nationalist Party Government with the temporary President Li Zongren decided to release some people under detention. As one of them, Zhou Zuoren was released on bail and went back to Beijing.

In the next 17 years, Zhou continued to translate classical Japanese traditional and classical Greek literature. However, during the Cultural Revolution, the People's Literature Publishing House no longer paid royalty to Zhou Zuoren, which used to be his sole source of income. On May 6, 1967, Zhou Zuoren died of a sudden relapse of the illness. During the first decades of the People's Republic of China, Zhou Zuoren's writings were not widely available to readers due to his alleged treason. Only during the relatively liberal 1980s did his works become available again. The Chinese scholar Qian Liqun (錢理群) in 2001 published an extensive biography of Zhou Zuoren entitled "Biography of Zhou Zuoren" (周作人传).

Literature Interests
He called his studies "miscellanies" and penned an essay titled "My Miscellaneous Studies" (我的雜學). In Tokyo, Zhou developed interests in mythology, anthropology, and what he called ertongxue (兒童學; the study of children development). He later became a translator, producing translations of classical Greek and classical Japanese literatures, including a collection of Greek mimes, Sappho's lyrics, Euripides' tragedies, Kojiki, Shikitei Sanba's Ukiyoburo, Sei Shōnagon's Makura no Sōshi and a collection of Kyogen. He considered his translation of Lucian's Dialogues, which he finished late in his life, as his greatest literary achievement. He was also translated (from English) the story Ali Baba into Chinese (known as Xianü Nu 俠女奴). During the 1930s he was also a regular contributor to Lin Yutang's humor magazine The Analects Fortnightly and wrote extensively about China's traditions of humor, satire, parody, and joking, even compiling a collection of Jokes from the Bitter Tea Studio (Kucha'an xiaohua ji). He became chancellor of Beijing University in 1939.

Philosophical Stance
In his early work, Zhou Zuoren denied the legitimacy of violence as a force for modernizing China, but rather sought social change and intellectual engagement through nonviolence. Before the 1920s, his literary and philosophical views agreed with the essential aspects of Romanticism, which impulses set him apart from other major literary and intellectual figures as his motives in participating in the New Culture Movement had much less or little to do with any apocalyptic vision or transcendental aspiration. During the May Fourth era, he continued commitment to what he called “individualist humanism”, but eventually abandoned this ideology after witnessing increasingly violent tendencies that were out of the idealism of the May Fourth movement. As he wrote in 1926, “class struggle was not a Marxist invention but true as the Darwinian idea of competition for survival”. After the May Fourth Movement, Zhou sought to retreat from the nation-building project into individual and ordinary life.

Between 1940 and 1943, Zhou used Confucianism as a guise to argue that the Chinese never had any “thought problem,” as the Japanese so claimed. By comparing the Confucianism development in China to a tree, he asserted that “the tree can grow up again if there was no outside interference through either restraint or artificial cultivation.” However, after the war, his profuse textual language and artistic attitude were also seen to align with the spirit of Daoism thoughts. In 1944, he explained: “According to my own observations and experience, I have an opinion that is incompatible with the time, which is my two not-to-be-isms. First, I don’t want to be a follower; second, I don’t want to be a leader. Although I labeled myself a Confucian, this attitude actually belongs to Daoism. However, since I cannot retreat fully, I still have no way to avoid conflicts”.

title: Zhou Zuoren


text:
Talk:Virgin Galactic

Too many concepts - too few names
As with Tier One, we have far more concepts here than names. Here are the concepts I'd like names for, and the names so far: Any comments? 195.167.169.36 10:01, 28 Sep 2004 (UTC)
 * Richard Branson's company: "Virgin Galactic". This one seems uncontroversial.
 * The VG/MAV project to develop and fly five-passenger suborbital tourist craft. I'm looking for a name analogous to "Tier One", and haven't seen one so far.
 * The design of the suborbital tourist craft. I'm looking for a name analogous to "Boeing 747".  So far it looks like the craft is to be named "Virgin SpaceShip", by analogy with "SpaceShipOne".  However, it's possible that "Virgin SpaceShip" instead refers to all Virgin Galactic spacecraft, including later designs not yet announced.  That latter theory fits nicely with the name prefix "VSS", which will presumably be applied to all Virgin Galactic spacecraft.  Incidentally, I'm not sure whether "SpaceShipOne" refers to the design or to the (currently sole) instance of that design.
 * The design of the launcher for the suborbital tourist craft. This design is a scaled-up version of White Knight.  I haven't seen any hint of a name for this yet.

 * VSS - Virgin SpaceShip, either refers to the SpaceShipOne derivative, or to all Virgin Galactic spacecraft. The first of which though, is definitely named Enterprise, so unlike the SpaceShipOne confusion on whether the type and that particular spaceship have the same name is not an issue. I hazard that SSO refers only to that particular spaceship and not all Tier One spaceship components. (it would make sense). I hazard that VSS actually is the moniker used for all Virgin Galactic spacecraft, whether SSO derived or not, because it'll make more sense. VSS Richard Branson derived from Armadillo Aerospace stuff (for example) combined with VSS Enterprise, would match ship naming convention...

 * Humour: VSS Virgin, VSS Indefatigable, VSS La Pucelle, VSS Blossom...

They probably don't know themselves yet. Just as SpaceShipOne refers to both the design and the craft itself. (See Voyager et al. only one was built, so only one name was needed :) Nicholas 16:30, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Is there any confirmation that the pilots forming the first cadre for SS2 are British? I feel damn proud if they are, in a world where the superpowers hold most of the space cards (even the private industrial ones, and even though Branson is a Brit)! TheManwithNoName 21:14, 17 Apr 2006 (GMT)

 * Here are some equivalencies:
 * American Airlines, British Airways, Virgin Galactic
 * Short haul flights, long haul flights, suborbital flights
 * Boeing 747, Airbus 380, The Spacehip Company SpaceShipTwo
 * The Spaceship Company's WhiteKnightTwo does not seem to have an equivalent in the airline industry. In the aerospace industry there are several equivalents such as the external fuel tank on NASA's Space Shuttle and the Orbital Carrier Aircraft (OCA) used to launch Orbital Science's Pegasus rocket.
 * Ga2re2t (talk) 13:29, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Question re: Voyager
Has it been confirmed that the second ship, Voyager, is named after the Star Trek vessel? I haven't seen that mentioned anywhere else. It's certainly possible, but it's also possible Branson named it after the space probe. 23skidoo 13:40, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * It's been properly sourced. 132.205.45.148 20:18, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

 * sources
 * MoneyWeek Will space tourism ever take off? Simon Wilson 21.01.2005
 * The Economist One small step for space tourism... Private spaceflight 18 December, 2004
 * 70.51.10.202 (talk) 07:39, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

New Logo
The logo needs to be updated to reflect the new "iris" logo. - RealGrouchy 17:47, 13 December 2005 (UTC)

"Advancing Mankind"
This section reads like an ad. Should it be removed? Alex Nisnevich 05:02, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. Much as I personally agree with the claims this section makes it is very POV. Martin Leng 18:20, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

I'm so excited about the prospects for this sort of thing and I admire the boldness of Virgin Galactic as a commercial enterprise, but that's a little over the top for an encyclopedia. AbstractClass 18:38, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

I think is should be kept in, as when we turn to Wiki to find answers, it's great that they are there, no matter how brief, in time this topic will be extended as more develops with the Galactic topic. Thirteen28 02:35, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

 * Who turns to Wikipedia to find answers? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.239.133.107 (talk) 06:22, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Employees
I'm sorry but I can't seem to find the source for the number of employees. Can someone verify the number of employees for me please? Along with names and titles. Thanks. Cygnus 20:00 - 2006 11 05

The article says 823 - this is hype for publicity I guess. Surely it should be deleted. Rustygecko (talk) 06:51, 3 January 2023 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:New Galactic Logo.jpg
Image:New Galactic Logo.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in Wikipedia articles constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 17:00, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:New Galactic Logo.jpg
Image:New Galactic Logo.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 05:15, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

VSS Voyager / Spirit of Steve Fossett
In this article from the SanFran Sentinel, it says that the first Virgin Galactic WK2 will be called "Spirit of Steve Fossett"... (also in CBS SanFran ) So the second SS2 is still called VSS Voyager then... 70.55.86.160 (talk) 14:06, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

 * As stated above, the article from Time (2007-10-10) does not specify which half of the design will be named after Steve Fossett:
 * …a unique aircraft we are now building to launch people, payload and science into outer space next year. We plan to name it Spirit of Steve Fossett in his honor.
 * Whereas the article from the San Francisco Sentinel (2007-10-10) is more specific in that it will be the first Scaled Composites White Knight Two mother ship that is named "Spirit of Steve Fossett":
 * He added that the first flight will likely take off from the Mojave desert, carried up into the atmosphere from a mother ship he plans on naming “The Spirit of Steve Fossett,” after the explorer who went missing a month ago during a flight in Nevada.
 * —MJBurrage(T•C) 18:26, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

UK company?
I see that an anonymous user added the claim that Virgin Galactic is a "UK" company (with this edit). I looked at the company's website and found no proof of such a claim. They seem to be based in the U.S. I'm removing the change, but if anyone has more definitie info, I'm sure we'd all like to know about it. --Eliyahu S Talk 11:31, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

 * It's a wholly owned subsidary of Virgin Group, which is a UK company. See here for a reference. Ga2re2t (talk) 13:18, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

 * Nice try--Dead link. Bottom line: Designed & built by American's, run by American's (former NASA Administrators). Give it up Ga2re2t--it's an American LLC, not a UK Ltd.    — Preceding unsigned comment added by 143.115.155.56 (talk) 19:17, 27 March 2016 (UTC)

 * One could have learned how to use the internet archive
 * "...owned and established by Richard Branson's Virgin Group..." (An archive copy of the same link) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.126.8.121 (talk) 22:26, 5 April 2018 (UTC)

Space as a public asset
It should be noted the UN has declared all outer space as world-owned. Thus if we begin to see private companies in space, a conflict is present. Capitalists argue they can do a better job than government and that money is the best motive. On the other side is the argument that outer space is not a place for private enrichment. Some capitalists have suggested that agencies such as NASA should get out of space and leave it to them for 'commercial development'.Ykral (talk)
 * Space is not "world-owned". Planetary bodies other than Earth can't be owned due to a UN treaty, just as it is the case for Antarctica. "Space" itself isn't owned by anyone. There are treaties to use it, just as there are treaties to use the airspace for commercial airline travels. There is no conflict here between private companies or between private and public companies, just as there is no conflict for airline operators although they have to adhere to international and national rules about the airspace they fly in. NASA has nothing to do with sub-orbital spaceflight in any event. Themanwithoutapast (talk) 08:30, 1 March 2009 (UTC)
 * And to be perfectly clear, even the space treaties that are widely accepted only stated that nations could not exercise national sovereignty over space; it is not the case that no part of or resource from space can be privately owned. Both the Soviet/Russian and the United States have treated there resource samples from space as if they were private property. N2e (talk) 01:34, 4 November 2012 (UTC)

Should a new Wiki page for TSC Aerospace be created
Considering there is no website (from google searches) should a page be created? Perhaps they are in the process of developing a website. And also if concluded that a page should be created then possibly a link on this page under the heading Spacecraft with the other relevant links?--Medic463 (talk) 22:07, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Economy
At $200.000 per trip do they break even? Does anyone have any ideas about the economy of this thing? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.103.189.40 (talk) 09:06, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Time of weightlessness
Is the estimated time of 6 minutes of weightlessness realistic? A simple calculation (please correct if wrong) suggests that roughly 3 minutes is more likely. For simplicity assume the gravitational pull is $$a=9m/s^2$$ (a horizontal speed of 1000m/s has only a tiny effect on that). I think I've read somewhere the ship reaches a vertical speed of 400m/s, since I'm not certain give it 500m/s at the end of the burn. So we have

 * 55s from end of burn till reaching peak altitude ($$\tfrac{500m/s}{a}$$)
 * 125s from peak altitude of 110km down to 40km in free fall ($$\sqrt{\tfrac{2*70000m}{a}}$$)

Assuming one feels the drag of the atmosphere at a hight of about 40km. So 3 minutes maximum of free fall in total. How do they reach 6 minutes? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.195.11.232 (talk) 10:16, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

Fox News' site
This site: [Fox] has a Fox News' article about a new spacecraft from this company.Agre22 (talk) 20:36, 7 December 2009 (UTC)agre22

Some of this seems familiar, just so you guys know.
The results for "barring any problems arising in the test campaign" come up with several non-wiki results. Someone did some copy and pasting. 69.243.146.145 (talk) 09:24, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

VG update
There is a brief update here:. I have no time to update the article just now. Cheers. N2e (talk) 02:48, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Faster than a fighter?
The article currently says "The spacecraft will reach around Mach 3 (1000 m/s), which is faster than current fighter jets are capable of attaining". I'm probably being quite anal here, but the MiG-25 although usually not flown faster than mach 2.8 can actually go up to mach 3.2 if you're willing to wear out it's engines, and actually has been recorded as flying that fast in the 1970s. -OOPSIE- (talk) 05:15, 2 August 2010 (UTC)

The "spacecraft" will reach around Mach 3 - well that was what they claimed on the box.

Commencement of sub-space flights

“A rocket-powered test flight of SpaceShipTwo finally took place on April 29, 2013, with an engine burn of 16 seconds duration. The brief flight began at an altitude of 47,000 feet, and reached a maximum altitude of 55,000 feet. While the SS2 achieved a speed of Mach 1.2 (920 mph), this was less than half the 2,000 mph speed predicted by Richard Branson.”

89.240.216.102 (talk) 22:56, 6 November 2014 (UTC)

P.S: Since they tend to overlap, might not the Sections, 'SpaceShipTwo's projected performance' and 'Commencement of sub-space flights' be merged? 89.240.216.102 (talk) 23:07, 6 November 2014 (UTC)

Needs to be updated
The 2010 plan in the opening section--completed, never completed, what happened? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.145.224.169 (talk) 20:03, 14 December 2011 (UTC)

LauncherOne needs a photo
The article would be improved by the addition of a photograph of LauncherOne. I would imagine that a fair use rationale may exist to use a small version of one of the US news media photos, like from the NewSpace Journal source here. Adding a Photo requested. Cheers. N2e (talk) 02:35, 12 July 2012 (UTC)

Why all the WK1/SS1 parallel text in a Virgin Galactic article?
In a section entitled Mothership, the article currently states: "The White Knight One and White Knight Two are special aeroplanes functioning as mother-ship and launch-platform for the spacecraft SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo respectively. The motherships are large fixed-wing aircraft. They have two hulls, linked together by a central wing."

Why are WK1 and SS1 featured so prominently, in an article about Virgin Galactic? VG did not have anything to do with SpaceShipOne and WhiteKnightOne. Anyone have a source? If not, I will remove the disproportionate emphasis on predecessor related designs. N2e (talk) 20:25, 13 July 2012 (UTC)

 * ✅ Since no rationale, and no sources, have been offered to support the heavy VG connection to WK1/SS1, I have edited the article and removed the undue emphasis, as well as the photo of WK1. Cheers.  N2e (talk) 04:27, 26 July 2012 (UTC)

Branson's investment
This webzine article provides some solid info on Branson's investment in licensing Burt Rutan's airplane and spaceplane technology, as well as his investment in the production of the early aircraft: "...$14 million to license Rutan's technology and another $95 million to  build five passenger spaceliners over 15 years", Virtuoso Life, p. 4, accessed 2012-09-12. Might make a good source for improving the article with some info on investment numbers. Cheers. N2e (talk) 00:21, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

Virgin has hired two more pilots

 * Virgin Galactic hires two new SpaceShipTwo pilots, including former Shuttle astronaut, NewSpace Watch, 7 May 2013. N2e (talk) 22:17, 7 May 2013 (UTC)

Ticket Price
It appears that the ticket price may have changed.

Here's the source:

http://www.virgingalactic.com/booking/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by Appple (talk • contribs) 21:33, 25 June 2013 (UTC)

There are no tickets on sale on their website. Rustygecko (talk) 06:58, 3 January 2023 (UTC)

orbital
The SpaceShipThree article states that the project was scaled back to a less ambitious point-to-point exo-atmospheric travel vehicle, instead of an orbital vehicle. Does this also indicate that Tier Two has also been rescoped, and that the orbital project has been pushed to another future "tier" (ie. Tier Three, for want of a better name) ? 76.66.200.95 (talk) 13:09, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

--Petebutt (talk) 16:52, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

Low-cost seats for media persons
A few (and very occasional) low-cost seats for media will apparently become available on somewhat of a standby/short-notice basis, typically from late cancellations of other spaceflight participants. VG CEO made some remarks in November about it, and NewSpace Journal has the story here. Might warrant mention in the article, either this one or SpaceShipTwo. Cheers. N2e (talk) 14:24, 16 November 2013 (UTC)

Criticism section
This article has provided misleading information since its creation in 2006 (when we were promised flights by 2008). The deadline keeps moving - in 2009 it was 2011, and it seems we're always 'two years away' from genuine space flight. In the meantime 50 million dollars or so has been taken from prospective passengers who, presumably, believed the 'within two years spiel' when they paid their $100,000 deposits.

Is it time to have a proper 'criticism' section that addresses the obvious issues (it's not orbital, it's not 'space' - it's just three minutes of weightless freefall in a modern vomit comet) as well as the financial concerns and that even as late as January 2014 they still do not have a motor capable of delivering what was promised way back in 2005?? 88.106.82.212 (talk) 20:46, 26 January 2014 (UTC)

Correction - it's even worse than I thought - in September 2004 Branson was saying flights were going to take place 'within 18 months' — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.106.82.212 (talk) 21:10, 26 January 2014 (UTC)

 * What project like this doesn't suffer delays? Seems to me like that was always intended as a media sound-bite to say it isn't far away to keep up interest. If customers signed contracts that were clear about timetable or at least that there could be long delays what would customers have to complain about? But to add anything, I think you would have to be sure what was meant by flights within 18 months i.e. was it meant to be 18 months to test flights? WK2 flew for the first time on December 21, 2008 crandles (talk) 16:49, 3 April 2014 (UTC)

Blunder Birds are go for the world's first PR driven 'spacecraft'. A costly and dangerous ego trip that has been given the MSM respect that it does not deserve. So weak and badly designed - why was this cheap toy-on-a-rocket allowed to fly? 78.147.86.25 (talk) 20:44, 2 November 2014 (UTC)

With this article saying that operations begin in 6 weeks time, is there at least the possibility that this is all a scam? They’ve been taking money and promising flights for so many years that most ticket holders have forgotten they paid. Some ticket holders are dead. Is it a scam? Rustygecko (talk) 07:03, 3 January 2023 (UTC)

Fleet 2 or 3 WK2 Motherships?
Fleet section says As of 2008, Virgin Galactic plans to have a fleet of two White Knight Two mother ships and five or more SpaceShipTwo tourist suborbital spacecraft.

SS2 article says In October 2010, TSC announced plans to build three WhiteKnightTwo aircraft and five SpaceShipTwo spaceplanes.

Is the later 2010 ref right re 3 WK2 motherships? One or other article needs to be corrected. crandles (talk) 16:39, 3 April 2014 (UTC)

 * The thing is, TSC is not the same entity as Virgin Galactic, so if TSC builds 3, that's not the same as VG operating 3. Probably VG will have three, as of 2010; since that's two years newer. -- 65.94.169.222 (talk) 08:33, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

Todd 'Leif' Ericson
Is Virgin Galactic's Todd Ericson notable enough for an article? WP:SOLDIER and AVBIO apply here. -- 65.94.169.222 (talk) 08:33, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

suggestion for re-write: how many planes?
I came to Wikipedia for one answer. How many of these Virgin planes are there? The answer is not easily found. I read that there are 5 planned but I think the only one built has crashed and that there is one mother ship, which has not crashed.

Consider this suggestion in writing the article. EatingGlassIsBad (talk) 20:58, 31 October 2014 (UTC)

Competition with Blue Origin
According to BONS and VGSS2 are in direct competition to make the first commercial spaceflight -- 65.94.43.89 (talk) 07:26, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

British or American?
As there has been some edit warring lately, I'd like the say unless you can provide a source stating otherwise, Virgin Galactic is a U.S. company, not a British one. The HQ is in the US and it is listed as a LLC (rather than a LTD company if it was listed in the UK).Ezrado (talk) 12:34, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

Merge Ken Baxter (businessman)
Baxter's only real claim to fame is his association with this project, per WP:BLP1E it should be covered here. -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom  21:26, 29 October 2015 (UTC)

 * Strong oppose He may be mentioned at Virgin Galactic, but in now way should he be merged here. It's pointless since he is only tangentially related to Virgin Galactic, and only as much as a list entry with just his name would be all that should ever appear in any Virgin Galactic article. -- 70.51.44.60 (talk) 07:31, 12 November 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified
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External links modified (January 2018)
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Investors section needs clarification
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/richard-branson-saudi-arabia-investment-talks-pulls-out-virgin-jamal-khashoggi-missing-journalist-a8580431.html

Branson is not a fan of Khashoggi's disappearance. It's at least worth mentioning given the large stake that they have or had in Virgin Galactic.

Oldarney2 (talk) 18:05, 22 February 2019 (UTC)

SpaceShipTwo is projected to fly to a height of 110 km..
should this be updated, or is the 110km still felt to be achievable? Any explanation for why the performance has been downgraded? Note the unity page makes no mention of projected altitude capability Gjxj (talk) 01:04, 13 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Edited to keep history of design goal but also note max reached so far. That seems better than losing design goal. C-randles (talk) 10:40, 13 July 2021 (UTC)
 * that is better. I note though that the referenced source for the 110 number doesn't support that at all. ( I'm guessing the web page changed since it was linked ) Gjxj (talk) 16:06, 16 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Not sure what I did wrong, URL in ref not changed but with other changes now seems to work for me. Let me know if you still can't find the quote I put in the ref. C-randles (talk) 19:58, 16 July 2021 (UTC)

Remove Boom collaboration section?
The only sources talking about a collaboration with Boom are from 2016, and since then both companies have been pretty much silent about the prospect. Given that it hasn't seemed to have gone anywhere, should the section be removed, or at least changed to reflect that the collaboration either never happened or has since ceased? SpaceAlex1 (talk) 07:52, 8 September 2022 (UTC)
 * I'd suggest that it will remain of modest historical interest, even if it has been canned. I think you would be justified in putting it in the past, along the lines of "In 2016 Virgin/Boom [delete as appropriate] announced a collaboration with Boom/Virgin [ditto], followed by lots of "would"s and "proposed"s and the like. I can see no justification for deleting material supported by reliable sources, just yet. — Cheers, Steelpillow (Talk) 12:02, 8 September 2022 (UTC)

“The company aims to have about 3 launches per month sometime in 2023.
Like so many of Branson’s claims, this surely is utter hype. They aren’t going to be flying even 1 per month in 6 weeks time. Should it not be clarified that this was just a publicity stunt? Rustygecko (talk) 06:54, 3 January 2023 (UTC)

Why are SpaceShipOne Flights listed in an article about Virgin Galactic?
Why are SpaceShipOne Flights listed in an article about Virgin Galactic? Geoffrey.landis (talk) 21:05, 13 January 2023 (UTC)

Danger, Dead Ahead!
It is space travel Jim - but not as we know it! Given warnings of danger, and safety issues that remain to be addressed - what about having a section called VirginGate - The Dangers? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.149.166.177 (talk) 08:57, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Virgin Galactic


text:
2004 FIFA Futsal World Championship

The 2004 FIFA Futsal World Championship was the fifth FIFA Futsal World Championship, the quadrennial international futsal championship contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was held between 21 November and 5 December 2004 in Taiwan (Designated as Chinese Taipei under FIFA). It was the first FIFA tournament held in the country and was the last to feature 16 teams.

Spain won their second successive title, defeating Italy in the final.

First round
(21 November-26 November)

Second round
(28 November-1 December)

Top goalscorers
The top 10 scorers from the 2004 FIFA Futsal World Cup are as follows:

title: 2004 FIFA Futsal World Championship


text:
File:AxisAndAlliesBox.jpg

Box art for the first edition of Axis and Allies. Copyright owned by Wizards of the Coast (née Milton Bradley.) Fair use as box art.

Fair use rationale
This image has been checked by a third party against the articles in which it appears. It meets the following fair-use criteria:-
 * No free alternative possible
 * If this is a promotional image from the company, then any "user-supplied" image whose sole purpose was clearly to represent the same copyrighted box/item art (and nothing else, and with no significant artistic input- i.e. a "mechanical" reproduction, whether by scanner or camera) would likely have the same restrictions.
 * Is being used to demonstrate the product and/or its marketing
 * Serves to demonstrate the product being discussed rather than being used in a solely decorative manner.
 * Does not deprive company of ability to make money in any way
 * Is not being used in misleading or misrepresentative manner

title: File:AxisAndAlliesBox.jpg


text:
Trinity College, Bristol

Trinity College, Bristol is an evangelical Anglican theological college located in Stoke Bishop, Bristol, England. It offers a range of full-time and part-time taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses which are validated by the University of Durham through the Common Awards Scheme, though the college sets its own curriculum. Many of its students are training for ordination in the Church of England; and hence there is a strong vocational aspect to the courses it provides. It also has students of other Christian denominations, as well as students who are intending to serve within various forms of lay ministry. The college also has a significant number of students studying for research degrees at masters and doctoral levels. All of Trinity's postgraduate research courses are validated by the University of Aberdeen.

It runs an evening programme for students from a number of Christian denominations, as well as those training for ordained and lay ministry in the Diocese of Bristol.

History
Trinity College, Bristol was formed in 1971 from a merger of three evangelical colleges in Bristol: Clifton College, Dalton House with St Michaels, and Tyndale Hall. Trinity College, Bristol is rooted in the evangelical tradition (and is affiliated to the Evangelical Alliance) but offers training to Christians from a variety of theological traditions.

All of the colleges had their origins in the Bible Churchmen's Missionary Society (BCMS, now Crosslinks). The Bible Missionary Training College opened in Bristol in 1925, and was recognised by the Church of England in 1927. The BCMS college faced great difficulties in its early days. Its conservative evangelical constituency was numerically and financially weak. The staff split over the issue of subscription to BCMS' doctrinal basis, and those who did not view subscription as essential left to form Clifton Theological College. Subsequently, Dalton House was opened to train women. The Principal of the men's college (C.S.Carter) resigned in the early 1930s after dismissing a student. It was renamed Tyndale Hall in 1952.

An earlier attempt at merger in the 1960s was poorly handled and resulted in considerable conflict.

In the years following its opening, Trinity College developed an international reputation for its evangelical scholarship, particularly in the field of biblical studies. With the appointment of George Carey as principal in 1982, the college experienced significant growth in student numbers and became known for its openness to charismatic spirituality.

In September 1997, Trinity College Bristol formed the Bristol Federation with Bristol Baptist College, Wesley College, and the West of England Ministerial Training Course (WEMTC). Following the later closure of Wesley College and the move of WEMTC, Trinity College continues a close relationship with Bristol Baptist College as federated institutions, sharing common courses.

Notable staff
The current faculty includes Helen Collins, Sean Doherty, Paul Roberts, David Firth, J.P. Davies, Taido Chino, and Howard Worsley. A number of prominent scholars are among its associate faculty, including Paula Gooder, John Nolland, Craig A. Evans, Michael Goheen, Nijay Gupta, Gordon McConville, Steve Walton and Craig Bartholomew.

List of principals
The head of Trinity College is the principal. The current principal is the Revd Dr Sean Doherty.

 * J. Alec Motyer (1971–1981)
 * Joyce Baldwin (1981–1982)
 * George Carey (1982–1988); later the 103rd Archbishop of Canterbury
 * David Keith Gillett (1988–1999); later Bishop of Bolton
 * Francis Bridger (1999–2005); later Professor at Fuller Theological Seminary and Dean of Brechin
 * George Iype Kovoor (2005–2013); Chaplain to the Queen later fellow of Berkeley College, Yale University, Rector of St Paul's Episcopal Church, Darien, CT.
 * Emma Ineson (2014–2019); Chaplain to the Queen, Bishop of Kensington
 * Sean Doherty (2019–present)

Notable former staff and alumni

 * Donald Allister – Bishop of Peterborough.
 * Nick Baines – Bishop of Leeds.
 * Jonathan Clark – Bishop of Croydon.
 * Bob Evens – Former bishop of Crediton.
 * Jonathan Gledhill – Former bishop of Lichfield.
 * Anne Hollinghurst – Bishop of Aston.
 * Karen Gorham – Bishop of Sherborne.
 * David Jackman – Former president of the Proclamation Trust.
 * Richard Jackson – Bishop of Hereford and Current Chair of Trinity College Council
 * Alistair Magowan – Bishop of Ludlow.
 * Adrian Newman – Bishop of Stepney.
 * J. I. Packer – Associate principal from 1971 to 1979.
 * Mark Rylands – Bishop of Shrewsbury
 * Jackie Searle – Bishop of Crediton
 * Andrew Williams – Bishop of New England

Stoke House
Stoke House, the building that forms the main front of Trinity College, has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II* listed building. It was built by Sir Robert Cann and probably completed in 1669. This date is above the front door in rather untrustworthy lettering (which may have been added much later). However, the date fits with the building's style and other documentary evidence. The doorway is certainly Jacobean in character, including excessively twisted columns of three wound strands, with naive Corinthian capitals containing a mask each. The spandrels above the door contain allegorical females either side of the Cann family crest. The sidewalls of the porch are typical of c.1670 with upright oval windows keyed into oblong panels, here under steep open pediments. The oak staircase within the building is characteristically mid-seventeenth century. The three ogee gables along the front roofline are also quite Jacobean in character, but the rest of house is much altered. The original cross windows (cf. J. Kip's 1712 engraving) were replaced with gothic versions c. 1750 as shown in John Turner's 1791 painting of the house. In 1872 Foster & Wood installed mullioned-and-transomed windows in double-height canted bays with projecting curved centres and strapwork cresting. They also reinstated the oval windows in the gables with reference to those in the porch. Two rooftop cupolas were removed in the twentieth century. At the rear of the building two three-story blocks were added in the seventeenth century, one at an angle to the house.

title: Trinity College, Bristol


text:
Antonio de Mendoza

Antonio de Mendoza (1495 – 21 July 1552) was a Spanish colonial administrator who was the first viceroy of New Spain, serving from 14 November 1535 to 25 November 1550, and the second viceroy of Peru, from 23 September 1551, until his death on 21 July 1552.

Mendoza was born at Alcalá la Real (Jaén, Spain), the son of the 2nd Count of Tendilla, Íñigo López de Mendoza y Quiñones, and Francisca Pacheco. He was married to María Ana de Trujillo de Mendoza.

Viceroy of New Spain
Mendoza became Viceroy of New Spain in 1535 and governed for 15 years, longer than any subsequent viceroy. On his arrival in New Spain, he found a recently conquered territory beset with Indigenous unrest and rivalry among the Spanish conquerors and Spanish settlers. His difficult assignment was to govern in the king's name without making an enemy of Hernán Cortés. Cortés himself had expected to be made the permanent ruling crown official of New Spain, since he had led the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. The Emperor Charles V (King Charles I of Spain) and the Council of the Indies judged Cortés too independent of crown authority to be made viceroy and had created a high court (audiencia) in New Spain in 1528, appointing Nuño de Guzmán, a rival of Cortés as its president to counter Cortés's power. In 1530 the crown granted Cortés the title of the Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca with multiple encomiendas. With the arrival of Viceroy Mendoza in 1535, Cortés pursued his own economic interests from his palace in Cuernavaca.

Although the Spanish had occupied and expanded explorations, conquest, and settlement in the Caribbean, it was not until the conquest of central Mexico that the crown appointed a viceroy (vice king), who would be the king's living image in Mexico and envisioned to effectively assert royal authority in the Kingdom of New Spain. To further cement his authority and establish a solid society he established marital alliances with powerful settlers committed to the development of New Spain, such as Marina de la Caballería. Mendoza's status as a noble and his family's loyalty to the Spanish crown made him a suitable candidate for appointment.

Don Antonio and Bishop Juan de Zumárraga were key in the formation of two institutions of Mexico: the Colegio de Santa Cruz at Tlatelolco (1536), where the sons of Aztec nobles studied Latin, rhetoric, philosophy and music, and the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico (1552), modeled on the University of Salamanca, which trained young men for the Catholic Church. These institutions were the first and second universities respectively to be established in the mainland of the Americas. In 1536 he began the minting of silver and copper coins, known as macuquinas. Also under his instructions, the first printing press in the New World was brought to Mexico in 1539, by printer Juan Pablos (Giovanni Paoli). The first book printed in Mexico: La Escala Espiritual de San Juan Clímaco. On 18 May 1541 don Antonio founded the city of Valladolid (now Morelia, Michoacán).

When the Spanish crown issued the New Laws that put restrictions on the grants of elite conquerors awarded grants of labor encomenderos, the viceroy prudently refrained from implementing the most draconian aspects of the edicts, which no longer permitted an encomendero family holding the grant in perpetuity. In Peru, the implementation of the New Laws resulted in outright rebellion and the assassination of the viceroy. In reaction to the crisis caused by the New Laws, Mendoza introduced the policy of obedezco pero no cumplo ("I obey but do not comply"), which means "I respect the authority of the crown, but in my judgment I do not implement particular legislation." He tried to not implement the New Laws, and therefore stabilized the region.

In 1542 an insurrection of the Indians, called the Mixtón Rebellion threatened to push the Spaniards out of northwestern Mexico, bringing the area under indigenous control. The Viceroy himself had to take the field and bring all disposable manpower. The rebellion was quashed and the surviving Indians were harshly punished. By the viceroy's order men, women and children were seized and executed, some by cannon fire, some torn apart by dogs, and others stabbed. In 1548 he suppressed an uprising of the Zapotecs.

As viceroy, Mendoza commissioned the expedition of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado to explore and establish settlements in the northern lands of New Spain in 1540–42, the expedition of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo to explore the western coastline of Alta California in 1542–43, and the expedition of Ruy López de Villalobos to the Philippines in 1542–43. The Codex Mendoza created by the order of Mendoza, and subsequently named for him.

During his term of office, Mendoza is credited with consolidating the sovereignty of the Crown throughout the Spanish conquests in New Spain and limiting the power and ambition of the first conquistadors. Many of the political and economic policies he established endured throughout the entire colonial period. He promoted the construction of hospitals and schools and encouraged improvements in agriculture, ranching and mining. His administration did much to bring stability and peace to New Spain.

He was succeeded as viceroy of New Spain by Don Luís de Velasco. It is reported that his advice to his successor was: "Do little and do that slowly."

Viceroy of Peru
On 4 July 1549 in Brussels, Emperor Charles V named Mendoza viceroy of Peru. He traveled overland from Mexico to Panama, and then by boat to Peru. He arrived and took up his new office on 25 November 1550. However, he soon became ill, and died in 1552. His tomb is in the Cathedral of Lima, along with that of the Spanish conqueror of Peru, Francisco Pizarro.

Cape Mendocino in Humboldt County, California was named in his honor in 1565. From the cape, Mendocino County, the town of Mendocino, and Mendocino National Forest were named in the 19th and 20th centuries.

title: Antonio de Mendoza