Chandrayaan-I launched successfully

[dwarakesh]

India's first unmanned lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, is scheduled to be launched from the spaceport of Sriharikota at 6.20 am on October 22, Indian Space Research Organisation sources said on Monday.

The satellite was transported from here to Sriharikota in a special vehicle last week and has reached the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR). The spacecraft is expected to be mated with ISRO's work-horse rocket, Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C11) later this week, the sources said.

The spacecraft would carry 11 payloads -- five from India and six from the US, Europe and Bulgaria. It would be launched on board PSLV-C11. Chandrayaan-1 satellite would orbit the Moon at an altitude of 100 km mapping the topography and the mineralogical content of the lunar soil.

Chandrayaan-1 would also carry a Moon Impact Probe payload for demonstrating the technology needed towards landing on the Moon's surface. India believes the Rs 386-crore lunar mission is a step towards its quest for exploration of outer space and inter-planetary missions.

Source: NDTV

[dwarakesh]

A highly motivated team that is working 24 hours and an upbeat mood among the nearly 500-member team will ensure that, weather conditions being just right, Chandrayaan-I , the country's first mission to the Moon, will begin to orbit it by November 8. The scheduled date for the launch of the Rs 380-crore space mission has been announced as October 22, at a possible optimum lift-off time of 6.21 am.

A visit to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR at Sriharikota showed the mission reaching its final stations. After a dawn departure of the satellite from ISRO's satellite centre in Bangalore last week, the satellite at SDSC is in the fourth stage of integration before its scheduled launch.

The mission will use the a sling propelling system where Chandrayaan will first orbit the Earth and upon a suitable time, will be grabbed by the Moon's orbit. The mission, carrying 11 payloads from various countries will seek to discover Helium-3 , a possible alternative source of energy, besides other areas of research.

Source: India Times

[dwarakesh]

Chandrayaan-I clears all tests for Moon odyssey

As the moon mission began progressing from the realms of imagination to reality, scientists put their heads together to design the perfect spacecraft to carry India's soaring aspirations. After slogging it out for months, straddling numerous calculations and combinations, what emerged from the drawing boards was a cuboid spacecraft. It had a single solar array to generate power.

As the spacecraft took shape, the scientists monitored its progress on computers. The equipment was housed in a closely-guarded room at the Isro satellite centre in Bangalore. During launch, the spacecraft will weigh 1,304 kg. Once it reaches the lunar orbit covering a distance of nearly 3,86,000km from the Earth, its weight will go down to 590kg as most of its propellants will be depleted during the five-and-a-half-day journey.

Of its total weight, the 11 scientific payloads it'll carry will weigh 80kg. Initially, when the design of the spacecraft was conceived, the weight of the payloads was kept at 35kg. One of the reasons why it shot up was the inclusion of the 29kg Moon Impact Probe, an Indian payload which was initiated at the instance of former President A P J Abdul Kalam. The probe will crashland on the lunar surface to identify future landing sites and explore the moon from a close range.

After freezing the design, scientists got down to preparing it and, by September, it was in flight mode. But takeoff was still a far cry as the spacecraft had to undergo several crucial tests to assess if it could weather the hostile space environment while encircling the moon for two years. Chandrayaan-I would take 117 minutes for every revolution at an altitude of 100km above the lunar surface.

In the thermovac test, the spacecraft was lowered into a chamber with temperature extremes. "This test imulates the actual difficult space environment," said an Isro official. Next came the vibration test in which the spacecraft was placed on a table and vibrated just like an actual launch.

Third in line was the acoustic test where the roar of four jet planes was simulated simultaneously to check if the spacecraft could survive the literal blast of the launch. Isro officials recalled a case a few years ago when a few cows, which had accidentally strayed into the launch zone, had gone deaf because of the sound and fury of the takeoff.

The lunar vehicle scored full marks in all these tests and is now ready for launch in the early hours of October 22. After takeoff, once it detaches from the rocket and enters the geo-stationary transfer orbit, the spacecraft will operate on its own for a few days.

The spacecraft will generate power through what is known as a canted single-sided solar array. Which means Chandrayaan's energy will be gathered from the sun. The solar array with lightsensitive cells will generate 700 watts during peak period. During eclipse, it will be powered by lithium batteries.

Chandrayaan is equipped with things like thrusters, which will execute fuel burns to alter the trajectory whenever needed. It has an inertial measurement unit consisting of accelometers and gyroscopes to measure the attitude.

The design of the spacecraft is so advanced that flight controllers on Earth can instruct it to bring a back-up on line if there is a technical hitch. It has three solid state recorders on board to record data from various payloads. While SSR-I will store science payload data, SSR-II will carry spacecraft altitude information, satellite housekeeping and other auxilliary data besides science payload data.

Pre-launch tests

Thermovac test to assess the spacecraft's strength against temperature extremes.

Vibration test placing the spacecraft on a table and simulating the environment of an actual launch.

Acoustic test simulating the roar of four jet planes simultaneously to see if the instruments survive the blast of the launch

[dwarakesh]

Chandrayaan-1 shifted to VAB

Hectic activity was under way at ISRO's launch centre in Sriharikota, 100 km north of here on Tuesday, with the integration of the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft with the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C11) proceeding smoothly.

The spacecraft was moved to the 83-metre tall Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) of the second launch pad complex on the midnight of October 13/14. It is in the VAB that the PSLV-C11 rocket stands majestically on a massive launch pedestal.

M. Annadurai, Project Director, Chandrayaan-1, said from Sriharikota, "The spacecraft is being assembled on top of the vehicle now. Initial tests are going on." The tests involved checking the radio frequency and computer connectivity to the ground.

"We are testing them so that we can get ready for the countdown. If the weather permits, the launch will take place on October 22. There are no other issues. Technically, we are in good shape. The whole team is in an upbeat mood," Mr. Annadurai added.

The 52-hour final countdown starts from 4.00 a.m. on October 20.

Chandrayaan-1 is India's first mission to the moon. The spacecraft will take remote-sensing images of the moon, which will help in locating minerals and chemicals on the lunar soil. It will help in confirming the presence of water in the South Pole of the moon.

[dwarakesh]

Giant antenna set to track Chandrayaan I

Signalling another milestone in the countdown to the launch of moon mission Chandrayaan I, the giant 32-metre antenna at the Indian Deep Space Network Facility in Byalalu village set up to track its progress, was officially inaugurated on Friday by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G. Madhavan Nair.

Collaboration

The fully-steerable 300-tonne antenna has been developed indigenously by Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) in collaboration with scientists from Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and ISRO. The antenna will begin tracking the lunar satellite within six hours of its launch on October 22 at 6.20 a.m. from Sriharikota, Chairman and Managing Director of ECIL K.S. Rajashekhara Rao told presspersons here on Friday.

Voyage

It will continue tracking the satellite's 400,000-km voyage to the moon and its orbit around the moon for the next two years.

After it completes tracking of the two-year Chandrayaan I mission, the antenna will be put to use for ISRO's future missions, including Chandryaan II.

Lifespan

The Rs. 65-crore project has a lifespan of two decades, according to Mr. Rao. "India now joins the exclusive league of countries that have the technological competence in deep space networks," Mr. Rao said.

A few weeks ago the IDSN successfully tracked the Japanese lunar mission, SELENE.

Chandrayaan I will have 11 experiments on board and will gather information on distribution of minerals on the moon, and capture the high resolution pictures of lunar topography.

[manimarank]

Indian spacecraft will try to unravel moon's origin

Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh): India's lunar explorer, Chandrayaan-1, will try to unravel the moon's origins as it scouts for minerals and water there, says project director M Annadurai.

Chandrayaan, slated for an October 22 launch from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, would bolster international space cooperation by carrying 11 scientific devices — six of them from European and American organisations, while it orbits 100 km above the moon.

One of the lunar orbiter's key missions will be to map the moon. "During the two-year expedition, the 11 devices will be used to prepare a three-dimensional atlas of both near and far side of the moon," Annadurai said.

The maps will have a high resolution of 5 to 10 metres, he added.

Annadurai said the chemical and mineralogical mapping of the entire lunar surface will show where elements such as magnesium, aluminium, silicon, calcium, iron and titanium are to be found.

"Simultaneous photo, geological and chemical mapping will enable indentification of the different geological units, which will test the early evolutionary history of the moon," he said. They will also help determine the nature of the lunar crust, he said.

The lunar probe will also look for water-ice in the permanently dark polar regions of the moon which may be as cold as 50 to 70 degrees Kelvin (about minus 223 to minus 203 degrees Centigrade) , he said.

These are the European Space Agency devices or payloads that will fly on the Chandrayaan:

    * Imaging x-ray spectrometer (C1XS), developed by the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Britain with the ISRO satellite centre, will map the lunar surface, using x-ray fluorescence technique for measuring the elements. It will also observe the moon during the rising phase of the solar cycle when x-ray signals are expected to be enhanced.

    * Sub-kiloelectronvolt (keV) atom reflecting analyser (SARA), built jointly by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics and the Space Physics Laboratory of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VKSC) at Thiruvananthapuram, will study the composition of the moon, the way its surface reacts to solar wind, how its materials change and the magnetic anomalies.to be continued.

[manimarank]

Chandrayaan to look for water on the moon

Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh): Is there water on the moon? India's lunar explorer, Chandrayaan 1, will try to find out by peeking into the moon's dark corners and sending an American probe to dig there.

When Chandrayaan heads for the moon on October 22, it will carry on board a 6.5-kg mini synthetic aperture radar (MiniSAR) developed by the Johns Hopkins University applied physics laboratory and the Naval Air Warfare Centre. It will look for water-ice in the permanently shadowed regions of the lunar poles by digging a few metres into the surface.

Although lunar samples brought back by previous missions show the moon to be pretty dry, recent discoveries suggest water-ice may exist in its polar regions. The lunar poles contain areas that are permanently dark, creating cold traps or zones that, because the sun never shines on them, may be as cold as 50-70 Kelvin (about minus 223 to minus 203 Celsius).

"Cometary debris and meteorites containing water-bearing minerals constantly bombard moon," the mission's Project Director, M Annadurai, said. "Though most of this water is lost to space, if a water molecule finds its way into a cold trap, it should remain as no physical process is known till date that can remove it. Over geological time, significant quantities of water could accumulate."

An Indian-made device, a high energy x-ray spectrometer (HEX), will explore the moon's polar regions (north-south) that could be covered by thick water-ice deposits.

[Kalyan]

Really the Good News, and i heard the ISRO gave permission to one of the Tamilian : Mr.Krishnamoorthy, age of 59 that he have rights to stop or collapse the spacecraft at mid of the air without expecting any one of the permission.

[dwarakesh]

Chandrayaan countdown to start on Monday

Countdown for the launch of Chandrayaan-1, the country's first unmanned moon mission, will start on Monday, a top ISRO official said.

"The countdown will start on Monday early morning," Satish Dhawan Space Centre Associate Director MYS Prasad told PTI. The spacecraft, which will be launched on October 22, was moved to the launch pad last evening, he said.

"Preparatory activities, including checking of various parameters in payloads, to start the countdown are going on," Prasad said.

He added that all operations are progressing satisfactorily for the launch of the spacecraft on Wednesday at 0620 hrs.

"About 42 tonnes of propellant would be filled during the countdown period," Prasad said.

According to the specifications given by officials, the spacecraft carrying 11 payloads (scientific instruments) weighs about 1,380 kg at the time of its launch.

The spacecraft is shaped like a cuboid with a solar panel projecting from one of its sides. The state-of-the-art sub-systems of the spacecraft facilitates safe and efficient functioning of its 11 payloads.

It is powered by a single solar panel generating a maximum power of 700W. A 36 Ampere-Hour (AH) Lithium ion battery supplies power when the solar panel is not illuminated by the sun.

"To make Chandrayaan-1 escape from orbiting the earth and to travel towards the moon, its Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) is used," an official said, adding, "Liquid propellants needed for LAM as well as thrusters are stored onboard the spacecraft."

The craft's dual gimballed antenna will transmit scientific data gathered by its 11 payloads to earth, officials added.

Source: The Hindu

[dwarakesh]

Amid its first economic slowdown in three years, India is getting ready to shoot the moon.

On Wednesday, the country is scheduled to launch its first unmanned moon mission, when lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 blasts into space aboard an Indian-made rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in the country's south.

The launch will put India into an Asian space race, which last year saw Japan and China launch lunar orbiters. Sites in those countries are regularly used for launching commercial satellites.

The Chandrayaan-1 mission is the Indian Space and Research Organization's first attempt to propel a spacecraft beyond the Earth's atmosphere, although India has been launching suborbital satellites since 1975. About 1,000 scientists and engineers have worked on the lunar project for four years.

The $80 million two-year mission -- during which the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft is expected to orbit about 60 miles from the lunar surface -- will conduct a series of experiments on the moon's mineral, geological and chemical characteristics, as well as searching for evidence of water on the lunar surface.

Chandrayaan-1 is carrying payloads for 11 scientific experiments, including five from India, two from the U.S. space agency, NASA, and one each from Germany, Britain, Sweden and Bulgaria.

A successful launch will make India the third Asian nation to place a satellite in lunar orbit. China's Chaang'e I lunar satellite was launched in October 2007, after Japan launched its Kaguya lunar orbiter in September.

India's space program has its critics. Some argue that the Indian government is spending millions on space exploration while ignoring poverty at home, where per capita income is less than $1,000 a year, public health and education services are poor, and rising food and fuel prices are pinching citizens.

It also comes at a time when India's booming economic growth has begun to slow amid the global financial crisis. Inflation-adjusted growth in gross domestic product fell to 7.9% in the quarter ended June 30, falling below 8% for the first time in three years.

C.S. Unnikrishnan, a scientist with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, in Mumbai, says that the lunar mission is driven by ISRO's desire to promote its business arm. "This mission will only project ISRO as a major player in commercial launch systems," he said.

ISRO has launched satellites for customers from Germany, Belgium, Indonesia and Argentina since 2001. The global marketing wing of ISRO, Bangalore-based Antrix Corp. had revenue of $192 million in the year ended March 31. Antrix says the "ISRO launch services are economical compared to other Asian competitors."

[manimarank]

Chandrayaan countdown: Team anxiety on full blast

Sriharikota: The countdown to the Chandrayaan blast off is on and Mayilsamy Annadurai, the proud Project Director of the unmanned Indian mission to the moon, is waiting with bated breath.

Chandrayaan, the PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle), will blast off into the space, with the moon as its destination. Mayilsamy Annadurai leads a team of nearly 3,000 scientists and engineers from across the world.

"We feel pleasure working and it is almost like the birth of a baby in the family. We are all excited and have worked hard," said Annadurai.

Annadurai's family has watched him work tirelessly for years. His wife files away every mention of his achievements, while son Gokul is an engineering student and plans to follow in his dad's footsteps. Gokul says that his father is a role model for everyone at home.

"I am truly proud because many say that my father's age is pretty young to lead a mission of that standard, so I'm obviously proud to be son of such a person," said Gokul as if stating the obvious.

P Sreekumar is chief scientist of the instruments that will be used in Chandrayaan's experiments. An IIT graduate with a doctorate from the US, Sreekumar is glad he returned to India to join the Chandrayaan mission.

"It was not a difficult decision. I always wanted to come back to India. I think ISRO provides a nice environment, provides opportunities.

T K Alex heads ISRO's satellite centre and he says he has his hands full with people who refuse to stop working.

"In especially our satellite center most of them are workaholic, they enjoy the work. In the evening they won't go home, many of them stay back," said T K Alex.

In many ways, Chandrayaan is all about telling the world that we've arrived. We can do it. But as much as it's about the technology and the scientific challenge, it is also about the men and women behind the mission.

[NAREN]

HI

My Best Wishes  For the CHANDRAYAAN....

And to all the scientist and developers of "Chandrayaan"

Very eager to watch the launch

[manimarank]

India Prepares Moon Launch

NEW DELHI — India was preparing to launch its first unmanned space ship to the moon early Wednesday, part of an effort to assert its power in space and claim some of the business opportunities out there.

The launch of Chandrayaan-1, as the vehicle is called (it means, roughly translated, "Moon Craft-1") comes about a year after China's first moon mission. The Indian mission is scheduled to last for two years, prepare a three-dimensional atlas of the moon and prospect its surface for natural resources, including uranium, a coveted fuel for nuclear power plants, according to the Indian Space Research Organization, or I.S.R.O. Allusions to an Asian space race could not be contained, even as Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, was due for a visit to China later in the week.

"China has gone earlier, but today we are trying to catch them, catch that gap, bridge the gap," Bhaskar Narayan, a director at I.S.R.O., told Reuters.

The maiden Indian lunar voyage will carry two devices from NASA, one to assess mineral resources on the moon and the other to look for ice deposits in the moon's polar regions. It is scheduled to be launched from a research station in Sriharikota, a barrier island off the coast of southern Andhra Pradesh state.

The moon mission, in addition to demonstrating technological capacity, can also potentially yield commercial gains for India's space program. India's ability to put satellites into orbit has already resulted in lucrative deals, including from Israel, which has sent up a satellite via an Indian launcher.

"It is proof of India's technical capability in an advanced area of science," said Dipankar Banerjee, a retired army general who heads the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies here. "India wants to be counted as one of the emerging players in Asia. Space is of course an important part of power projection."

The mission was not without domestic critics. Bharat Karnad, a strategic affairs analyst who frequently finds fault with the Congress Party-led coalition government, called the mission a "grandiloquent" effort designed to catch up with a far more advanced Chinese space program. "It is kind of a prestige project the government has gotten into," he argued. "This is misuse of resources that this country can ill afford at this point."

[ganeshbala]

Chandrayaan-I launched successfully

HI Acumens

Chandrayaan has been successfully launched

India's first lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 started to cruise around the earth in its designated orbit Wednesday morning, minutes after a copybook liftoff launched the country into the elite club that has sent missions to the moon.

Other members of the club are the US, former Soviet Union, European Space Agency, China and Japan. The US returns to lunar exploration aboard Chandrayaan-1, which is carrying two NASA instruments in its payload.

Speaking minutes after the successful liftoff from this spaceport off the Andhra Pradesh coast, about 80 km north of Chennai, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Agency (ISRO) G. Madhavan Nair described the moment as "historic. India has started its journey to the moon. The first leg has gone perfectly. the spacecraft has been launched into orbit."

The 44.4-metre-tall 316-tonne rocket, Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV C11), had a copybook launch at 6.20 a.m., and completed its mission by placing the lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-1 into its scheduled orbit around the earth within 18 minutes, just as planned.

Nair pointed out that the launch had gone off perfectly despite heavy rain in and around the spaceport for the last four days. "We've been fighting the odds for the last four days," he said. But the weather gods relented by Tuesday evening and there no rain when the launch took place in a cloudy morning sky.

Chandrayaan-1 started to orbit the earth on its geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), from which its onboard liquid apogee motor (LAM) will be fired in a series of complex manoeuvres to take it to the lunar orbit - 387,000 km from earth - Nov 8.

It was a dream come true for about 1,000 space scientists and technologists when PSLV-C11, with the spacecraft atop, blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre of the state-run ISRO.

Within minutes of the 44.4-metre rocket roaring aloft, leaving behind an inferno in the underground inlets of the second launch pad, the mission control centre of the space station erupted with joy and excitement.

Top scientists, led by Nair, space centre director M.C. Dathan, associate director M.Y.S. Prasad and others shook hands and hugged one another even as the high-security facility reverberated with clapping of hands and cheers.

Former ISRO chairmen U.R. Rao and K. Kasturirangan and space commission member Roddam Narasimaiah, who were present on the occasion, congratulated Nair and his team.

Prominent dignitaries who witnessed the historic mission from ground zero included Tamil Nadu governor Surjit Singh Barnala and Minister of State for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja.

Once the 1,380-kg Chandrayaan-1 gets near the moon its speed will be reduced to enable the gravity of the moon to capture it into an elliptical orbit.

At the earliest possible opportunity the spacecraft that will orbit 100 km above the surface of the moon will drop its Moon Impact Probe (MIP) which will land on the lunar surface carrying India's flag, among many scientific instruments. After that, the spacecraft will also activate its cameras and other instruments on board.

Chandrayaan-1 will orbit the moon for two years. It carries 11 experimental payloads, five Indian and six from abroad - the two from NASA, three from the European Space Agency (ESA) and one from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

The objectives of the mission are to expand scientific knowledge about the moon, to upgrade India's technological capability and provide opportunities for planetary research to the younger generation of scientists and technologists.

"Chandrayaan-1 aims to achieve these objectives through high resolution of the moon in the visible, near infrared, microwave and x-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum," mission director M. Annadurai told IANS.

A three-dimensional atlas of the lunar surface and chemical mapping of the entire lunar surface are the other objectives of the mission.

India's mission to the moon is the world's 68th. Of them, 64 have been launched by the US and the former USSR. China and Japan launched their respective moon missions Chang'e and Kaguya in September and October 2007, while the ESA undertook such a mission from November 2004 to September 2006 with SMART (Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology).

Wednesday morning's launch differed in some important aspects from earlier PSLV launches by ISRO. At liftoff, PSLV C11 weighed 22 tonnes more than the earlier models, as its six strap-on motors were 3.5 metres bigger at 13.5 metres and the rocket carried 12 tonnes of solid propellant as against the usual nine tonnes.

"The vehicle structure was altered to have bigger strap-on motors. The rocket is also padded up with additional thermal insulation," George Koshy, project director, told IANS.

[manimarank]

Update: Chandrayaan in orbit, cruising around earth

Sriharikota: India's first lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 started to cruise around the earth in its designated orbit Wednesday morning, minutes after a copybook liftoff launched the country into the elite club that has sent missions to the moon.

Other members of the club are the US, former Soviet Union, European Space Agency, China and Japan. The US returns to lunar exploration aboard Chandrayaan-1, which is carrying two NASA instruments in its payload.

Speaking minutes after the successful liftoff from this spaceport off the Andhra Pradesh coast, about 80 km north of Chennai, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Agency (ISRO) G Madhavan Nair described the moment as "historic. India has started its journey to the moon. The first leg has gone perfectly. the spacecraft has been launched into orbit."

The 44.4-metre-tall 316-tonne rocket, Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV C11), had a copybook launch at 0620 hrs (IST) and completed its mission by placing the lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-1 into its scheduled orbit around the earth within 18 minutes, just as planned.

Nair pointed out that the launch had gone off perfectly despite heavy rain in and around the spaceport for the last four days. "We've been fighting the odds for the last four days," he said. But the weather gods relented by Tuesday evening and there no rain when the launch took place in a cloudy morning sky.

Chandrayaan-1 started to orbit the earth on its geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), from which its onboard liquid apogee motor (LAM) will be fired in a series of complex manoeuvres to take it to the lunar orbit - 387,000 km from earth - Nov 8.

It was a dream come true for about 1,000 space scientists and technologists when PSLV-C11, with the spacecraft atop, blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre of the state-run ISRO.

Within minutes of the 44.4-metre rocket roaring aloft, leaving behind an inferno in the underground inlets of the second launch pad, the mission control centre of the space station erupted with joy and excitement.

Top scientists, led by Nair, space centre director M.C. Dathan, associate director M.Y.S. Prasad and others shook hands and hugged one another even as the high-security facility reverberated with clapping of hands and cheers.

Former ISRO chairmen U.R. Rao and K. Kasturirangan and space commission member Roddam Narasimaiah, who were present on the occasion, congratulated Nair and his team.

Prominent dignitaries who witnessed the historic mission from ground zero included Tamil Nadu governor Surjit Singh Barnala and Minister of State for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja.

Once the 1,380-kg Chandrayaan-1 gets near the moon its speed will be reduced to enable the gravity of the moon to capture it into an elliptical orbit.

At the earliest possible opportunity the spacecraft that will orbit 100 km above the surface of the moon will drop its Moon Impact Probe (MIP) which will land on the lunar surface carrying India's flag, among many scientific instruments. After that, the spacecraft will also activate its cameras and other instruments on board.

Chandrayaan-1 will orbit the moon for two years. It carries 11 experimental payloads, five Indian and six from abroad - the two from NASA, three from the European Space Agency (ESA) and one from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

The objectives of the mission are to expand scientific knowledge about the moon, to upgrade India's technological capability and provide opportunities for planetary research to the younger generation of scientists and technologists.

"Chandrayaan-1 aims to achieve these objectives through high resolution of the moon in the visible, near infrared, microwave and x-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum," mission director M. Annadurai told IANS.

A three-dimensional atlas of the lunar surface and chemical mapping of the entire lunar surface are the other objectives of the mission.

India's mission to the moon is the world's 68th. Of them, 64 have been launched by the US and the former USSR. China and Japan launched their respective moon missions Chang'e and Kaguya in September and October 2007, while the ESA undertook such a mission from November 2004 to September 2006 with SMART (Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology).

Wednesday morning's launch differed in some important aspects from earlier PSLV launches by ISRO. At liftoff, PSLV C11 weighed 22 tonnes more than the earlier models, as its six strap-on motors were 3.5 metres bigger at 13.5 metres and the rocket carried 12 tonnes of solid propellant as against the usual nine tonnes.

"The vehicle structure was altered to have bigger strap-on motors. The rocket is also padded up with additional thermal insulation," George Koshy, project director, said.

[VelMurugan]

India's first lunar spacecraft now cruising around earth

India's first lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 started to cruise around the earth in its designated orbit Wednesday morning, minutes after a copybook liftoff launched the country into the elite club that has sent missions to the moon.

Other members of the club are the US, former Soviet Union, European Space Agency, China and Japan. The US returns to lunar exploration aboard Chandrayaan-1, which is carrying two NASA instruments in its payload.

Speaking minutes after the successful liftoff from this spaceport off the Andhra Pradesh coast, about 80 km north of Chennai, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Agency (ISRO) G. Madhavan Nair described the moment as "historic. India has started its journey to the moon. The first leg has gone perfectly. the spacecraft has been launched into orbit."

The 44.4-metre-tall 316-tonne rocket, Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV C11), had a copybook launch at 6.20 a.m., and completed its mission by placing the lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-1 into its scheduled orbit around the earth within 18 minutes, just as planned.

Nair pointed out that the launch had gone off perfectly despite heavy rain in and around the spaceport for the last four days. "We've been fighting the odds for the last four days," he said. But the weather gods relented by Tuesday evening and there no rain when the launch took place in a cloudy morning sky.

Chandrayaan-1 started to orbit the earth on its geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), from which its onboard liquid apogee motor (LAM) will be fired in a series of complex manoeuvres to take it to the lunar orbit - 387,000 km from earth - Nov 8.

It was a dream come true for about 1,000 space scientists and technologists when PSLV-C11, with the spacecraft atop, blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre of the state-run ISRO.

Within minutes of the 44.4-metre rocket roaring aloft, leaving behind an inferno in the underground inlets of the second launch pad, the mission control centre of the space station erupted with joy and excitement.

Top scientists, led by Nair, space centre director M.C. Dathan, associate director M.Y.S. Prasad and others shook hands and hugged one another even as the high-security facility reverberated with clapping of hands and cheers.

Former ISRO chairmen U.R. Rao and K. Kasturirangan and space commission member Roddam Narasimaiah, who were present on the occasion, congratulated Nair and his team.

Prominent dignitaries who witnessed the historic mission from ground zero included Tamil Nadu governor Surjit Singh Barnala and Minister of State for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja.

Once the 1,380-kg Chandrayaan-1 gets near the moon its speed will be reduced to enable the gravity of the moon to capture it into an elliptical orbit.

At the earliest possible opportunity the spacecraft that will orbit 100 km above the surface of the moon will drop its Moon Impact Probe (MIP) which will land on the lunar surface carrying India's flag, among many scientific instruments. After that, the spacecraft will also activate its cameras and other instruments on board.

Chandrayaan-1 will orbit the moon for two years. It carries 11 experimental payloads, five Indian and six from abroad - the two from NASA, three from the European Space Agency (ESA) and one from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

The objectives of the mission are to expand scientific knowledge about the moon, to upgrade India's technological capability and provide opportunities for planetary research to the younger generation of scientists and technologists.

"Chandrayaan-1 aims to achieve these objectives through high resolution of the moon in the visible, near infrared, microwave and x-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum," mission director M. Annadurai told IANS.

A three-dimensional atlas of the lunar surface and chemical mapping of the entire lunar surface are the other objectives of the mission.

India's mission to the moon is the world's 68th. Of them, 64 have been launched by the US and the former USSR. China and Japan launched their respective moon missions Chang'e and Kaguya in September and October 2007, while the ESA undertook such a mission from November 2004 to September 2006 with SMART (Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology).

Wednesday morning's launch differed in some important aspects from earlier PSLV launches by ISRO. At liftoff, PSLV C11 weighed 22 tonnes more than the earlier models, as its six strap-on motors were 3.5 metres bigger at 13.5 metres and the rocket carried 12 tonnes of solid propellant as against the usual nine tonnes.

"The vehicle structure was altered to have bigger strap-on motors. The rocket is also padded up with additional thermal insulation," George Koshy, project director, told the media.

[Kalyan]

Hi Acumens,

Thanks for the news, and me too got a chance to view that miracle in TV.am so happy and wish the team to success...

Proud to be an INDIAN. Jaihind....surely, this ill make success path

[dwarakesh]

'Chandrayan 1 is 'beginning' of a new frontier of cooperation'

The successful launch of the India's maiden mission to moon Chandrayan 1 is "just the beginning" of the opening up of a new frontier of cooperation between the US and India on a wide range of sectors, the United States India Business Council (USIBC) said on Wednesday.

The liftoff of Chandrayan 1 was lustily cheered at the US Chamber of Commerce where the USIBC had organised a live broadcast of the historic occasion that saw the participation of officials from the White House, the State Department, the NASA and senior officials of the Indian Embassy.

The USIBC event also saw the participation of the Indian American community who were clearly thrilled.

"It is a great day in our history. I think it will beckon a whole new era in technological cooperation between our countries," Somers said.

"In this Chandrayan 1 launch we have Raytheon Technology supported by NASA... This is just the beginning of opening up a new frontier together and exploring the main technological cooperation across a range of sectors," he said.

"American cooperation in India's first unmanned lunar mission Chandrayan 1 marks the beginning of a new era or trust and partnership between the two countries in the field of space science," said Ambassador Arun Kumar Singh, the new Deputy Chief of the Indian Mission in Washington DC.

"The inclusion of two US instruments on this spacecraft has provided further fillip to Indo-US cooperation in the space arena that dates back to the very beginning of the Indian space programme. The very first sounding rocket, a Nike Apache was launched from Thumba on November 21, 1963," Singh added.

[VelMurugan]

India now has outer space in its sights

Sometime earlier today, weather permitting, a modified version of India's main Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle should have lifted off from Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh. Atop its nosecone it will be ferrying a 575 kg spacecraft called Chandrayaan-1 which, if all goes well, will ultimately orbit the Moon for a period of about two years. During that time it will also release a smaller impact probe to slam into the lunar surface to help explore it from close range.

But why on earth are we going to the Moon at all, and that too at a cost of nearly Rs 400 crore? Surely there are other pressing priorities back home like poverty, literacy, medical care, infrastructure development etc that need urgent attention and the taxpayers' money. Besides, why are we doing this now when others have done it several decades ago?

The former Soviet Union and the United States both launched successful lunar orbiting satellites way back in 1966.
We're told that, among other things, the mission will try to source non-radioactive Helium-3 which is scarce on Earth but believed to be abundant on its natural satellite and is seen as a promising fuel for advanced fusion reactors in the future. Once located, we can transport it back from the moon to run nuclear plants and generate abundant electricity. Apparently, a couple of tonnes of Helium-3 are enough to meet the energy needs of the world. So how come other advanced nations of the world haven't thought along similar lines?

They also tell us Chandrayaan will pave the way for future manned missions to the Moon. But the Americans have already been there and done that nine times with a flurry of 27 astronauts between 1968 and 1972 and haven't gone back since. The Russians, despite their awesome expertise in space travel, haven't done it at all. Obviously it's either not that important or no big deal. Or are we missing something here?

We are. It's the bigger picture which ultimately involves the colonisation of Moon and Mars. Most everything else about Chandrayaan — whether it's a show of strength to demonstrate that what China does we can too, or to develop terrestrial military missile options, or benefit from technology spin-offs and generate more jobs and get young people interested in such science — is, at best, unenduring. Even the national pride associated with becoming a full member of an elite club of super space powers, thus announcing India's place in the world, is an ephemeral phenomenon.

Earlier this year, the renowned Cambridge physicist Stephen Hawking had seen this same picture when he called for a massive investment in establishing colonies on the Moon and Mars. "If the human race is to continue for another million years" , he said, "we will have to boldly go where no one has gone before." Of course, he also saw it as an insurance policy against the possibility of human beings being wiped out by catastrophes like nuclear war and climate change. Ever since humans came out of Africa, exploration has always been in their blood. Yesterday it was the New World, today it's Antarctica, tomorrow the solar system.

This is the real reason why, after the famously fought face-saving "me first" duel to go to the Moon in the 1960s, the two original space-faring countries ducked the effort completely. Instead, what the Russians — and later the Americans — concentrated on quietly for long decades was in putting its astronauts for longer and longer periods on the orbiting Mir space station and the International Space Station (ISS). They wanted to study the effects of weightlessness on the human body. The information is vital for making long duration journeys to, say, Mars which can last anything from six to nine months one way.

In fact, besides serving as a research facility, the whole idea of building space stations is also for furthering lunar and other interplanetary voyage options. According to NASA the ISS has a key role to play as it moves forward with a new focus for its manned space programme, which is to go out beyond the Earth orbit. The ISS is now a stepping stone. The crews will not only continue to learn how to live and work in space but also how to build hardware that can survive and function for the years required to make the round-trip voyage from Earth to Mars. Is it any surprise then that China too plans on building one in the future?

Or that after Chandrayaan-2 , which is scheduled for some time between 2010 and 2012, and a manned mission to the Moon, ISRO has Mars in its sights? Last year, the principal scientific investigator to the Chandrayaan mission, J N Goswami, said that scientists had indeed begun studies about a mission to Mars. And K Kasturirangan, former ISRO chief, has stated that a mission to Mars by India is a logical extension to the moon flight.

That's why Chandrayaan-1 should be heading for the Moon today — because it's only a matter of time before humanity starts moving out from Earth. Therefore, it's good the country is considering at least some of its priorities to be in outer space too. It shows that, in the future, India can also be an enduring part of that outward movement.

[VelMurugan]

PSLV scores 13 in a row

India's trusted space workhorse, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), proved its mettle for the 13th time in a row today when it successfully launched India's first unmanned mission to the moon, the Rs 386 crore Chandrayaan-1.

The towering PSLV C-11 breathed fire and left plumes of smoke as it lifted off from the second launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here, as India set out on a journey to explore the moon, thus joining a select band of countries.

After an unsuccessful debut (PSLV-D1) in 1993, PSLV has come a long way, and there has been no looking back with the 13 various improvised versions of the launch vehicles reaping the fruits of Indian scientists' hard toil.

In a textbook launch, PSLV C-11 took off in a perfect liftoff and separation of each stage went off as planned without any hitch.

A beaming ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair summed it up saying "It's a remarkable performance by the launch vehicle."

Scientists cheered as the most used launch vehicle, weighing 316 tonnes at lift-off, soared majestically into the partially cloudy sky at 6.22 am from the space port.

This is the 14th flight of the PSLV, which had launched 29 satellites into a variety of orbits since 1993. This launch vehicle uses larger strap-on motors
to achieve higher payload capability.

[dhilipkumar]

President congratulates ISRO on Chandrayaan-1 launch


President Pratibha Patil congratulated ISRO scientists on the successful launch of India's maiden moon mission Chandrayaan-1, calling  ita "landmark day" for the country.

In a message from Guwahati, Patil said it was a "landmark day" which would inspire the Indian space scientists for sending manned missions in the future.

Patil, who is on a tour of North-eastern states, said India should aim at sending Indian astronauts to space in an Indian space capsule.

Beyond The Moon

Sometime earlier today, weather permitting, a modified version of India's main Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle should have lifted off from Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh. Atop its nosecone it will be ferrying a 575 kg spacecraft called Chandrayaan-1 which, if all goes well, will ultimately orbit the Moon for a period of about two years.

During that time it will also release a smaller impact probe to slam into the lunar surface to help explore it from close range.

But why on earth are we going to the Moon at all and that too at a cost of nearly Rs 400 crore? Surely there are other pressing priorities back home like poverty, literacy, medical care, infrastructure development etc that needs urgent attention and the taxpayers' money.

Besides, why are we doing this now when others have done it several decades ago? The former Soviet Union and the United States both launched successful lunar orbiting satellites way back in 1966.

We're told that, among other things, the mission will try to source non-radioactive Helium-3 which is scarce on Earth but believed to be abundant on its natural satellite and is seen as a promising fuel for advanced fusion reactors in the future. Once located, we can transport it back from the moon to run nuclear plants and generate abundant electricity. Apparently, a couple of tonnes of Helium-3 are enough to meet the energy needs of the world. So how come other advanced nations of the world haven't thought along similar lines?

They also tell us Chandrayaan will pave the way for future manned missions to the Moon. But the Americans have already been there and done that nine times with a flurry of 27 astronauts between 1968 and 1972 and haven't gone back since. The Russians, despite their awesome expertise in space travel, haven't done it at all.

Obviously it's either not that important or no big deal. Or are we missing something here?

We are. It's the bigger picture which ultimately involves the colonisation of Moon and Mars. Most everything else about Chandrayaan — whether it's a show of strength to demonstrate that what China does we can too, or to develop terrestrial military missile options, or benefit from technology spin-offs and generate more jobs and get young people interested in such science — is, at best, unenduring. Even the national pride associated with becoming a full member of an elite club of super space powers, thus announcing India's place in the world, is an ephemeral phenomenon.

[VelMurugan]

Chandrayaan-2 likely next year end or 2010: ISRO

After the successful launch of India's first unmanned mission to moon, Chandrayaan-1, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to send its second lunar odyssey, Chandrayaan-2, an Indo-Russian joint venture, likely by the end of next year or early 2010.

The work on this project would be taken up after Chandrayaan-1 starts its task of researching the moon, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair told reporters here after the PSLV-C11 launched the spacecraft.

"One of the two GSLV missions next year could carry Chandrayaan-2," he said.

The team behind the success of the first mission would work on Chandrayaan-2 also, he added.

However, the composition of the instruments for Chandrayaan-2 would be decided after studying the data received from the first mission, he said.

The second mission, for which the ISRO and Russian federal space agency have already signed a pact, would feature a lander and a rover for a soft land on moon.

"However, there would be a provision for accommodating payloads from other space agencies as is the case of Chandrayaan 1," Nair said.

In addition to India's five payloads, Chandrayaan-1 is carrying scientific instruments of the European Space Agency, Bulgaria and the USA.

[manimarank]

On Wednesday morning, just after sunrise, Chandrayaan-1 - India's first unmanned mission to the moon - blasted off. History was made as the orbiter started its journey with a mission to study the moon. It's being described as a huge breakthrough for India and for the team of scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Once the space craft reaches the moon, a small probe will descend from the craft to the surface of the moon. The probe will carry the Indian flag to demonstrate that this is a historic Indian achievement.

However, despite this huge achievement, there is a sense that India as a country has failed to popularise science as a lifestyle and is instead teaching is as a mere subject which needs to be crammed.

The question that was being asked on CNN-IBN's Face The Nation was: Mission Moon Successful: Has India failed to popularise science?

On the panel of experts to try and answer the question were Scientific Officer Science Popularise Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE), Nikhil Pawar; Head of the Science Department Springdales School, Anita Luthra; and Space Law Expert, Dr Ranjana Kaul.

MOONSTRUCK

India's first ever unmanned moon mission had a perfect lift-off at 06:22 hours IST on Wednesday morning. Chandrayaan-1 is orbitting Earth at the moment and will enter the moon's orbit on November 8, 2008.

India's first man in space, Wing Commander (Retd) Rakesh Sharma, who in 1984 spent a record eight days in space aboard a Soviet aircraft said, "Well, I would say, its a small step for science, for India through the efforts of ISRO, that's how I would describe it. Essentially it's the beginning of the exploration era and to tell the world now ISRO has now sort of come of age and that it is ready and able to take part in collaborative ventures to explore near earth object."

The successful launch has earned kudos for Indian scientists and school children across the country are delighted.

"What it really opens up is I think is whole new career option for youngsters. I think this is where we can expect kids to look beyond IT and it's a very lucky generation because within their lifetime they are going to be exploring space," Rakesh Sharma said.

Former ISRO chairman, U R Rao added, "It is am important step for us because we have for the first time, got into space. For the common man it is a great achievement and for the children, I think it is a great sense of pride as well as excitement because it will increase their interest in science and exploration."

[manimarank]

Obama views India's moon mission as a challenge

WASHINGTON: As the White House hailed India's maiden moon mission as "encouraging" and "exciting", Democratic presidential hopeful, Barack Obama s
aw it as a reminder to revitalise the US space programme and not let other countries surpass it.

"I haven't spoken to the President (George Bush) about it. I saw that story, it was very interesting," White House spokesperson Dana Perino said on Wednesday. "We noted it's very encouraging for India, I'm sure, very exciting."

However, Obama viewed Wednesday's historic launch of India's moon mission Chandrayaan I from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh as a challenge.

"With India's launch of its first unmanned lunar spacecraft following closely on the heels of China's first spacewalk, we are reminded just how urgently the United States must revitalise its space programme if we are to remain the undisputed leader in space, science, and technology," he said.

Obama said his comprehensive plan to revitalise the US "space programme and close the gap between the Space Shuttle's retirement and its next-generation replacement includes $2 billion more for NASA - but more money alone is not enough."

"We must not only retain our space workforce so that we don't let other countries surpass our technical capabilities; we must train new scientists and engineers for the next generation," he said.

Obama said his "comprehensive space policy focuses on reaching new frontiers through human space exploration, tapping the ingenuity of our commercial space entrepreneurs, fostering a broad research agenda to break new ground on the world's leading scientific discoveries, and engaging students through educational programmes that excite them about space and science."

"As a child, I remember sitting on my grandfather's shoulders and watching the Apollo astronauts return from a splashdown to Hickam Air Force Base, dreaming of where they had been," he added.

"It inspired my imagination and gave me confidence in what we as Americans could achieve. It's time for a space programme that inspires our children again," said the Democratic nominee who is leading over his Republican rival John McCain in most opinion polls.

"As president, I will lead our space programme boldly into the 21st century - so when my daughters, and all our children, look up to the skies, they see Americans leading the way into the deepest reaches of our solar system," Obama said.

The United States India Business Council (USIBC), representing 280 of the largest US companies investing in India, has also hailed India's maiden moon mission with two US instruments on board as the beginning of long "relationship promoting the opening of the frontier of outer space."

"This unique technology partnership in civil space exploration, which taps India's highly skilled scientific expertise with American instrumentation furnished by Raytheon, beckons what we hope will be a long and mutually beneficial relationship promoting the opening of the frontier of outer space," USIBC president Ron Somers said.

[manimarank]

Chandrayaan may help find whether Moon was the 'eighth continent' or not

Scientists are hoping that India's Chandrayaan-1 lunar mission will help solve the riddle of whether the Moon is an alien body that collided with the Earth, or is part of the Earth that was broken off after a collision with another body.

According to a report in The Times, a camera on board Chandrayaan-1, which will take X-ray images of the Moon's surface, may provide the answer to this riddle.

Manuel Grande, a British lunar scientist from Aberystwyth University, has helped to design the European Space Agency's instrument.

"After the Apollo landings, people thought they knew a fair bit about the Moon - they''d seen people walking around up there," Grande told The Times.

"But the more they looked at the results in detail, people realised the things we don't understand - like where it came from, or the possible existence of water," he added.

The United States Apollo missions landed on the Moon six times between 1969 and 1972, but always explored the same area - on the near side and on its equator - to ease the return to Earth.

Professor Grande's machine will take images of the entire Moon, analysing its glow to detect the presence of six key elements - iron, titanium, calcium, magnesium, silicon and aluminium.

He hopes that the results will help to solve the riddle of whether the Moon is an alien body that collided with the Earth, or is part of the Earth that was broken off after a collision with another body.

The findings might soon help to support human life on the Moon - for example, at a manned base that NASA is planning to build.

"I don't expect there to be an independent republic of the Moon in my lifetime," he said. "But, I do think there may be more and more manned bases on the Moon in the next 20-30 years," he added.

[VelMurugan]

Chandrayaan-1 functioning normally, says ISRO

Chandrayaan-1, India's first lunar orbiter, continued its long journey to the moon as operations planned by the Indian Space Research Organisation scientists for raising its orbit went on satisfactorily on Thursday, ISRO sources said.

"The health of the spacecraft is normal," an ISRO official said here.

The orbit-raising operations were carried out by scientists at ISRO's Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), here, the nerve centre of the mission, along with experts from ISRO centres.

Chandrayaan-1 was yesterday placed into an elliptical orbit with a perigee (nearest point to earth) of 255 kms and apogee (farthest point from the earth) of 23,000 km by the PSLV-C11 which blasted off from the spaceport of Sriharikota.

ISRO scientists plan to repeatedly fire the onboard Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) at opportune moments and the spacecraft is expected to settle into the lunar orbit on November 8.

[VelMurugan]

World salutes ISRO for launch of maiden lunar mission

The US and Europe today led the world in hailing the successful launch of India's maiden unmanned mission to Moon saying New Delhi has demonstrated its technological prowess and was emerging as an "ever stronger space power."

Shortly after the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft began its historic space odyssey, the scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) were congratulated and applauded for their achievement that catapulted India into an exclusive club of six moon-faring nations. Instruments from the US and Europe are on-board the unmanned spacecraft.

"The US congratulates India on the successful launch. This is a proud moment in India history and demonstrates India's technological prowess by joining the international community in the peaceful exploration of space," American Ambassador to India David C Mulford said.

Mulford said the US was proud to participate in the mission as the country had provided two instruments for it.

"Ahead of today's launch, scientists from the United States worked closely with their Indian partners to prepare the US contribution to the Chandrayan spacecraft, exemplifying the ideals of our bilateral partnership," he said.

[manimarank]

Chandrayaan-1 to get within 500 km of moon Tuesday

India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 will cruise closer to the moon early on Tuesday when it makes the transition from the earth's elliptical orbit into deeper space, a top space agency official said Monday.

"The liquid apogee motor (LAM) on board will be fired around 5.00 am on Tuesday for about five minutes to make the transition and position the spacecraft at about 500 km from the moon's surface and over 384,000 km away from the earth," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) director S. Satish said.

The complex manoeuvres will be carried out from the spacecraft's control room at ISRO's telemetry, tracking and command network (Istrac) in coordination with its deep space network (DSN) at Byalalu, about 40 km from Bangalore.

"Additional velocity will be given to the spacecraft to enter the lunar orbit Saturday (November for a rendezvous with the moon. With calibrated firing of its LAMs, it will be inserted into its designated orbit, which will be about 100 km from the lunar surface," Satish said.

Chandrayaan-1 has been spinning around the earth in an elliptical orbit at 267,000 km apogee (farthest from earth) and 465 km perigee (nearest to earth) since October 29.

"In the present orbit, Chandrayaan has taken six days to go round the earth once. The spacecraft performance is being monitored closely and its health parameters are normal," Satish added.

Chandrayaan carries 11 scientific instruments, including six foreign payloads - two from the US, three from the European Space Agency (ESA) and one from Bulgaria. The other five are indigenously designed and developed by various centres of the state-run ISRO.

The spacecraft was launched October 22 on board the 316-tonne polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV-C11) from the Satish Dhawan space centre at Sriharikota spaceport off the Andhra Pradesh coast, about 80 km north of Tamil Nadu capital Chennai.

[manimarank]

Chandrayaan's Camera clicks pictures of Earth space

The Indian Space Research Organisation said on Friday that terrific shots of earth from space in black and white have been taken by the terrain mapping camera onboard India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1.

In a statement issued by the space agency it said, "The camera was operated through a series of commands from the spacecraft control centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)'s telemetry, tracking and command network (Istrac) here. The images were received by the deep space network (DSN) at Byalalu."

The TMC took the first picture on 29th October at 8 a.m. from a height of 9,000 km, which displays the northern coast of Australia. After this, the second picture it took shows the southern coast of Australia, which was taken at 12:30 p.m. from a height of 70,000 km.

The statement added, "Analysis of the images conducted by Istrac's data centre confirmed excellent performance of the camera, one of the 11 scientific instruments onboard the spacecraft. The device has a resolution of five meters."

The hyper spectral imager (HySI), lunar laser ranging instrument (LLRI), high energy x-ray spectrometre (HEX) and the moon impact probe (MIP), are the other four Indian payloads of Chandrayaan-1.

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), ESA (European Space Agency) and from Bulgaria are the providers of the remaining six payloads.

Making its way into the lunar orbit, Chandrayaan-I from past Wednesday had been orbiting around the earth at 267,000 km apogee (farthest from earth) and 465 km perigee (nearest to earth).

The statement added, "In this orbit, Chandrayaan takes about six days to go round the earth once. The spacecraft performance is being monitored and its health is normal."

[VelMurugan]

Chandrayaan enters lunar space for final journey

India's first moon mission Chandrayaan-1 entered the lunar space early Tuesday for its final journey into the lunar orbit Saturday, an official of the Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) said.

"The operation to put Chandrayaan into lunar space went off very well. The complex manouvre was carried out around 5 a.m. by firing the liquid apogee motor (LAM) on board for about 150 seconds to place the unmanned spacecraft 380,000 km away from earth (apogee) and 1,000 km from the moon," ISRO director S. Satish told IANS.

The distance between earth and moon is about 384,000 km.

Preparations for the next major manouvre will begin soon to enable the spacecraft enters lunar orbit Nov 8 and positions itself about 100 km from the moon's surface.

"Chandrayaan has commenced its final journey towards the moon and will be inserted into the lunar orbit Saturday through complex manouvres from the space control centre of ISRO's telemetry, tracking and command network (Istrac) here," Satish said.

Even as the spacecraft gets ready for its rendezvous with the moon, its terrain-mapping camera (TMC) will shoot pictures of the earth and moon orbiting in 380,000 km (apogee) by 1,000 km (perigee).

"The images will be beamed to Istrac's space centre through electrical signals for processing and developing into high resolution pictures of one-five metres," Satish added.

All functions on board the satellite are performing well and its health parameters are normal. It is also able to send and receive signals from ISRO's deep space network (DSN) at Byalalu, about 40 km from here.

Chandrayaan is carrying 11 scientific instruments, including six foreign payloads - two from the US, three from the European Space Agency (ESA) and one from Bulgaria. The remaining five are indigenously designed and developed by various centres of the state-run ISRO.

The spacecraft was blasted off Oct 22 on board the 316 tonne polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV-C11) from the Satish Dhawan space centre at Sriharikota spaceport, about 80 km north of Chennai.

[dwarakesh]

Chandrayaan to enter tricky lunar orbit today

Saturday evening would mark the D-day for India's prestigious Rs 386-crore moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, when the tricky lunar orbit insertion (LOI) takes place — expectedly between 5 pm and 6 pm. The success of the moon mission, which lifted off on October 22, depends on this. ( Watch )

"The lunar orbit insertion (LOI) will start around 5 p.m. and last around 800 seconds," ISRO spokesperson S Satish told a news agency.

Once the operation is completed, it will be in a 7,500 km X 500 km elliptical orbit around the moon.

According to space experts, LOI is not without danger because it means traversing through an area in which the gravitational forces of the earth and moon nearly cancel each other out. Consequently, even a small deviation could send the spacecraft into a crash course towards the moon or earth - or on a path leading into deep space. Experts recall that about 30% of unmanned moon missions of US and the former Soviet Union failed during an LOI.

On the eve of Chandrayaan's LOI, an Isro official said: "Despite the challenging manouevre on Saturday, the professionalism of scientists and engineers makes us approach the task with optimism, although I admit to a feeling of nervous apprehension. It will be a test for everyone, including the deep space network at Byalalu and the electronic brain of the Chandrayaan spacecraft," he said.

He said the main challenge before LOI was targetting the spacecraft accurately to pass near the moon on Saturday at a "safe" distance of a few hundred kilometres. The distance between the earth and the moon is 3,86,000 km. "At that distance, it will be a big challenge for us to track the spacecraft, because the moon itself will be moving around the earth at the speed of 3,600 km per hour," he said.

[Kalyan]

Chandrayaan-I enters lunar orbit, moon mission a success

    It's a champagne moment. Exactly at 5.04 am (IST), Chandrayaan-I was inserted into the lunar orbit, a nerve-stopping manoeuvre that marked the success of India's first moon mission.

    Toasting the event, K Kasturirangan, who had kicked off the mission, said: "It is undoubtedly a great moment for India because nearly 50% of the moon missions of other countries have not been successful." India is now entrenched in the exclusive global moon club that had only the US, the former Soviet Union, Japan, China and the European Space Agency as members.

    Cock-a-hoop scientists said that after the successful Pokhran nuclear tests of May 1998, Saturday's achievement marked the greatest scientific accomplishment for the country. This is the first time that an Indian satellite has left the grip of the Earth's gravitional force.

    "We have done it. We have done it for the country. All the systems are working well. During the last 20 minutes, everyone's heart stood still. Our boys have done it very well," Isro chief G Madhavan Nair said.

    Kasturirangan explained that the lunar orbit insertion (LOI) was a nail-biting moment because two moving objects — the moon and Chandrayaan — had to be successfully rendezvous. The insertion had to be done at a precise point when the gravity of the moon and that of the earth cancelled each other.

    According to Isro officials, Chandrayaan's liquid engine was fired for 817 seconds when the spacecraft passed by at a distance of about 500km from the moon to reduce its velocity and enable the lunar gravity to capture it and take it around the moon. Chandrayaan's speed was reduced 366 metres per second when it flew into the moon's orbit.

INDIA KEEPS Date With The Moon

Exactly at 5.04 pm, Chandrayaan fires its liquid engine and enters the lunar orbit as the gravity of the moon and that of the earth cancel each other.

It is now going around the moon in an elliptical orbit that passes over the moon's polar region.

Steadily, the height of the orbit will be reduced till it reaches a circular path about 100km from the moon.

Next Saturday, the Moon Impacter Probe carrying the Tricolour will be launched from Chandrayaan and it will crashland on the moon's surface.

[ganeshbala]

Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft is slated to reach about one km away from its final orbital home of 100 kms above the moon's surface on Wednesday evening.
     
ISRO scientists are planning the final orbit reduction manoeuvre for about one minute at around 7 pm that would bring the lunar spacecraft to around 101 kms above the moon's surface, ISRO sources said.

The circular orbit is expected to be trimmed to 100 kms on Thursday, they added.

Source:dnaindia

[dwarakesh]

Chandrayaan-1: Exploration Commences

India's maiden lunar mission with Chandrayaan-1 reached its climax with the injection of the craft into its intended orbit around the moon. Since yesterday, the Chandrayaan-1 has been orbiting the moon once every two hours in its pre-determined orbit, which is only 100 kilometers above the surface of the moon.

The complex transition from the erstwhile elliptical orbit to its intended one was made with a final pre-planned maneuver, which was successfully executed at around 6:30 pm (IST), yesterday. With the Chandrayaan-1 in its intended orbit, it is now the turn of the scientific instruments aboard to start with exploration and mapping. In fact, some have already commenced duties, while some await the final command from the home base back on earth. The symbolic Moon Impact Probe will be released this week. The MIP contains the Tricolor, which is set to become the first object of Indian origin to reach the lunar surface.

The Indian Space Research Organization Director, S Satish, announcing the news quipped, "Two of the payloads - terrain mapping camera (TMC) and radiation dose monitor (Radom) - have been switched on. The TMC has taken some excellent pictures of the earth as well as the moon on its journey. We plan to release the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) from the spacecraft on Friday evening to crash at a designated spot on the lunar surface. The Indian tricolor in it will also hit the moon along with the probe."

The Chandrayaan-1, which took off from Sriharikota on October 22 aboard a PSLV C-11, has since then traveled close to 3,00,000 kilometers and has now reached the lunar orbit.

[ganeshbala]

India on Friday became the fourth nation to have its flag flying on the Moon's surface when Chandrayaan-1's Moon Impact Probe, which has the Indian Tricolour painted on it, touched moon's surface.

The MIP crash-landed on the lunar surface at around 8.31 pm. The MIP has started sending its first signals to the satellite.

[sajiv]

Chandrayaan-1 to hit lunar surface today

We the Indian would get a chance to feel proud once again today evening at 8:30 pm when Moon Impact Probe (MIP) – the device inbuilt with three instruments: radar altimeter, video imaging system and mass spectrometer – that is riding piggyback on the Chandrayaan-1 will free fall onto the lunar surface.Informing about the completion of Chandryaan-I's journey, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G Madhvan Nair on Thursday said that Chandrayaan-1 would drop a one and a half foot long probe onto the lunar surface.

The probe will fly over the Malarpet Mountain on the lunar surface and fall into a 19 km long crater near the moon's south pole and it's all going to be recorded on video for us to see," he said.'MIP will be detached 100 km above flying board at 8:03 or 8:04 pm and would take about 25 minutes to touch the lunar surface by free falling,' said ISRO spokesperson S Satish.

The 375 mm x 375 mm x 470 mm honeycomb structured MIP is 35 kg in weight and coloured with Indian tricolour- Saffron, White and green. A Sanskrit Sloka (verse) is written on one side of the MIP, ISRO official said.After flying the Indian tricolour on the lunar surface, MIP will create a history of being the only fourth nation after USA, Russia and European Union in flying national flag on the moon surface.The idea behind flying the tricolour on the moon was of former president and legend space scientist A P J Abdul Kalam, who had suggested the ISRO scientists in an International Lunar Exploration Working Group conference held at Udaipur in November 2004.

The MIP will send the still and digital video graphic pictures to the ISRO scientists that will be used for analysing the surface of the Moon, only natural satellite of our Earth. "The unmanned Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft will map the moon to get an idea about the minerals present there, which is of prime importance," said ISRO official.

After reaching to the inner orbit of lunar, Chandrayan- 1 will be revolving it at a distance of 100 km from the lunar surface till 2 years, an ISRO official informed.ISRO is also preparing to send another Indian satellite Chandrayaan–2 by 2012, and the preparation about it is at an advanced stage. " Chandrayaan-2 would be launched in 2012-13. It would have a small robot that would pick up lunar samples, analyse them and send the data back," said Nair.

[ganeshbala]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDo74VNJiRE

[sajiv]

Chandrayaan reaches the moon

A beaming Tricolour will flutter on the moon now.

India is officially on the moon. After a couple of tense moments, the Lunar Impact Probe which was launched by the Chandrayaan planted the Tricolour on the moon at 8.31pm.

The mood was upbeat at Bangalore after the Indian tricolor marked it presence on the moon on Friday night after having flown 3,86,000km from the earth.

Incidentally this proud day for India coincides with Children's day which makes it even more special. India becomes the fourth nation after the US, Russia and the European Space Agency to have the national flag painted on the moon. The moment of pride was very obvious at the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Peenya, Bangalore.

[Kalyan]

India's Flag on Moon

It is a Pride moment for all the Indians on Friday the 14th November, 08 at 8.36 PM. INDIA on Friday became the fourth nation to have its flag flying on the Moon's surface when Chandrayaan-1's Moon Impact Probe device, - which has the Indian Tricolour painted on it - touched down.

The 35-kilo payload crash-landed on the lunar surface at around 2036 hrs IST. It also contains equipment which will help scientists design a lunar lander or rover for the upcoming Chandrayaan-2 mission.

There's a lot tucked away inside the MIP. There's a device to constantly check its height as it falls, another to check what the air on the moon is made of and even a video camera to photograph the moon from close range.

The MIP disconnected from Chandrayaan at 100 km from the moon. As it fell, it kept sending information back to the satellite. Closer to the surface, rockets were fired to slow down its speed to soften the impact. After 30 min of free fall, the MIP crash-landed on the south pole of moon. The MIP is the brainchild of former president APJ Abdul Kalam. He said it's his dream to see an Indian astronaut walk the moon.

The around 35-kg MIP with three instruments took the images as it drifted towards the lunar surface detaching from India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 at 8.06 p.m. The crash landing of the 375 mm x 375 mm x 470 mm MIP, a honeycomb structure carrying a radar altimeter, a video imaging system and a mass spectrometer , raised a cloud of dust that will be analysed by the scientists, yielding a host of data about the composition of the moon.


But well before that, the video imaging system and the mass spectrometer had obtained data that will enable the scientists to analyse if the moon has water, if it has anything that can be used as fuel for nuclear fusion, hopefully even the age of the moon.


The landing of the MIP comes 50 years after the first man-made object landed on the lunar surface. The other countries that landed probes on the moon are the former USSR, the US and China.

[dwarakesh]

Chandrayaan-II cleared by govt, to be in orbit by 2011-12

COIMBATORE: Even as India's maiden lunar probe circles the moon, the Centre has given its approval for Chandrayaan-II and it would be in orbit by 2012.

ISRO has started necessary research workfor the next mission for which the Centre has sanctioned necessary funds, Chandrayaan-I Project Director Mylswamy Annadurai told reporters. The second mission would be a fully indigenous one, he said.

Chandrayan-I is the best thing to happen to Indian space research and is designed to study the water availability and fertile standards of moon, he said.

The moon mission has proved that India is on par with any other nation which ventured to the earth's satellite, he said.

Stating that the pictures being received from moon were giving very valuable inputs, he said steps are being made to get continuous pictures by making some technical corrections.

Earlier, the Scientist was felicitated by the public at different places in Coimbatore district for the successful launch of the country's moon mission.

Accepting the felicitations, Annadurai exhorted the students to shelve their foreign dreams as opportunities were available within India.

The days of foreign students coming to India in pursuit of research works and higher studies were not far away, he said.

[dwarakesh]

Chandrayaan-1: Laser payload turned on

This laser payload sends pulses of infrared laser light towards a strip of lunar surface and detects and analyzes the reflected portion of that light.

ISRO stated in a statement "The instrument was turned on when the spacecraft was orbiting over the western part of the moon's visible atmosphere. Initial data indicated the instrument's performance is normal."

This laser payload sends pulses of infrared laser light towards a strip of lunar surface and detects and analyzes the reflected portion of that light. The wavelength of the light used in this case is 1,064 nm. This instrument also accurately measures the altitude of the spacecraft above the lunar surface and the Moon's surface features.

The LLRI will take 10 measurements per second on both, day as well as night side of the Moon and provide topographical details of its polar and equatorial regions.

A space agency official said "Analysis of the LLRI data helps in understanding the internal structure of the moon, the way the celestial body evolved over millions of years and the way its large surface features changed over time."

Built by ISRO's laboratory for electro-optic systems in Bangalore, LLRI is the fourth of the 11 scientific payloads onboard Chandrayaan, orbiting 100 km above the moon's surface.

The statement added "Chandrayaan will use high resolution remote sensing in the visible, near infrared, microwave and X-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum to map the moon over the next two years. It will enable preparation of a 3-D atlas of the lunar surface and help map it chemically."

The LLRI will take high resolution images, which will help in understand how the Moon evolved. This data will also help in better understanding the moon's gravitational field.

[dwarakesh]

Bringing Chandrayaan-I back will be tough challenge: US astronaut

Terming India's maiden moon mission as fantastic and great, renowned American astronaut Jerry M. Linenger Friday said bringing back the probe to earth will be very difficult.

"Moon Mission is a great achievement for India and for me as well. It's fantastic to see India's growing role in space," Linenger told IANS on the sideline of Hindustan Times Leadership
Summit here.

"I am not underplaying the achievement, but let me tell you that bringing back the mission to earth will be very difficult," he said.

Linenger, who spent 132 days in space and orbited the earth 2,000 times, said bringing back Chandrayaan-I would pose more technological challenges than putting it in moon's orbit.

"Overcoming it will be a greater success," said the 53-year-old retired astronaut of NASA.

India's first probe to moon landed on the lunar surface Nov 14 after riding on Chandrayaan-1, the country's first unmanned spacecraft to the moon, travelling around 384,000 km in 24 days.

The moon mission was blasted off from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh Oct 22. The mission will return to earth after two years.

The astronaut, who achieved his dream of living in space on Russian space station MIR over a decade back, said more players in the space is a good thing and all countries must come together for space exploration.

"Joint endeavour will be a better option," he said, adding new players like China and India are doing well for a greater cause.

Source- IANS

[sajiv]

Chandrayaan: normal operations soon
Nedumbassery: Almost all the major steps with regard to the course of Chandrayaan-1, the Indian moon mission, are complete and it will switch over to normal operation in a short while, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) G. Madhavan Nair has said.

He told presspersons at the airport here on Saturday that only two more instruments aboard the craft had to be made operational and that might be done within a week.

"From there onwards, only some routine operations are left and everything is going according to the plans," he said. The two science instruments of the U.S. aboard the spacecraft had become operational and they would start sending data within a week.

Mr. Nair said that with the terrain mapping camera of the Moon Impact Probe (MIP), stereoscopic pictures of the moon would be available, which, in turn, would help to have a better understanding of the height and shape of craters on the lunar surface.

"We are the only country to obtain pictures from such a closer distance. We have got pictures with a resolution of five metres followed by a Japanese probe which secured pictures only with a resolution of 10 metres," he said.

On the ejection of the MIP from the space craft, he said the probe hit the lunar surface within 25 minutes and 10 seconds after leaving the mother craft and approached a crater named Shackleton. "During its fall from the lunar orbit, the instrument could take approach pictures of the crater," he said.

Noting that the MIP was part of its technological demonstration, he said the previous missions around this region had not yielded the desired results.

Mr. Nair said the ISRO was planning to launch Chandrayaan-2 in 2012, a mission in which a robot would be sent to collect samples from the lunar surface and conduct tests. In 2015, it would conduct a spacewalk and the man mission to the Moon would be launched only after it. After completing the Chandrayaan series, the ISRO would be going in for a mission to Mars and the steps for it had started. A blueprint of this project was expected to be out only after four or five years, he added. He landed here at 11.40 a.m. on Saturday and was on his way to the Guruvayur temple.

[sajiv]

Chandrayaan-1: imaging moon in 64 colours

If the Terrain Mapping Camera (TRC) can collect topographical data that will help compile a 3D lunar atlas with a 5 metre resolution, the Hyper-Spectral Imager (HySI) will enable the mineralogical mapping of the moon's surface.

HySI, along with other instruments, will also help in understanding the composition of the moon's interior.

Developed by the Ahmedabad based Space Applications Centre (the same Centre that developed the terrain mapping camera), the HySI will operate in the visible and near-infrared bands.

As a result, the HySI will be able to collect crucial colour information of the moon's surface features.

The colour information is collected from 421 nanometre to 964 nanometre wavelength, with a spectral resolution better than 15 nanometres.

Captured in frames
Chandrayaan-1 goes around the moon in a north-south polar orbit. It will collect the sun's light reflected from the moon's surface in an area detector (frames). This is much the same as any ordinary camera that captures an image in the form of frames.

One frame will correspond to 40 km in the north-south direction and 20 km in the east-west direction.

The 20 km coverage is called the swath. The rectangular frame has 512 pixels arranged in a north-south direction and 256 pixels in the east-west.

Arrays of 512 pixels in a north-south direction can be considered as rows and the arrays of 256 pixels arranged in an east-west direction can be considered as columns.

Each pixel covers 80 metres (hence 256 pixels x 80 metres gives the 20 km swath in the east-west direction). The area covered in the north-south direction depends on for how long the HySI camera captures data. Hence more the duration, more the area covered.

Wedge filter
The reflected light falling on HySI is split into spectral bands of different wavelengths by a wedge filter. The filter is placed in such a manner that the spectral separation happens in a north-south direction.

Hence each of the 512 pixels arranged in the north-south direction will represent continuously differing spectral wavelengths.

"One end of the array will have 421 nanometre and the other end will have 964 nanometre wavelength," said Dr. Kiran Kumar A.S., Deputy Director, Sensor Development Area, Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad.

The pixels arranged in a particular row (256 pixels) in the east-west direction will collect information in the same spectral wavelength.

So in one instant the HySI camera picks up data in different wavelengths. Ideally, data collected by all the 512 rows will help in understanding the mineralogical composition better.
Data processing

But transmitting the voluminous data will be very challenging. "Onboard processing is done and only 64 spectral bands are transmitted," said Dr. Kumar.

The data processing is done by combining the data from 8 continuous rows that will cover the same region on the moon at slightly different wavelengths into one data.

This kind of data compression allows the 512 rows of spectral wavelengths to be sent as 64 spectral bands.

"The data compression will result in some data loss," Dr. Kumar remarked, "but we need to compromise a little as we have to take into account data storage and transfer," Dr. Kumar said.
Operational time

Much like the Terrain Mapping Camera, The Hyper-Spectral Imager will be operational only for 20 minutes per orbit. This is because only the well illuminated regions of the moon near the equator will be imaged at any given point of time.

"So the imaging period will be restricted to 60 days in six months. We will have two slots of 60 days each in a year," he said.

Area covered

The rate at which the moon will be imaged will be 1.4 km per second. Since the swath (east-west coverage) is fixed at 20 km, 100 seconds of continuous operation will cover an area of 140 km length and 20 km width.

In 20 minutes of operation per orbit, the area of moon covered will be 1,680 km in length and 20 km in width. The higher latitudes, which will not be well lit by the sun, will be covered be increasing the exposure time of the camera.

"We will be able to cover the entire moon in two years' time," Dr. Kumar said.

But why choose a wedge filter instead of a prism to split the incoming light into different spectral wavelengths? "We can get a compact system that weighs less only when a wedge filter is used. The complexity and weight increase when we use a prism," he explained.

[dwarakesh]

India now aims for manned space mission

India is aiming to send a manned mission into the space after the success of its first unmanned mission to the moon, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairmain G. Madhavan Nair said here on Sunday.

"The (manned) moon mission is a tough task and to achieve that our first task is to send an Indian astronaut on a manned mission to space, who will orbit the earth and return. For this, the sanction of the government has to come. We plan to achieve this by 2015," Nair said at a reception accorded to him during his first visit to his home town since the successful launch of the Chandrayaan-1.

"The next moon mission by the US and China is fixed for 2020 and our target is that we also should be ready by then," Nair added.

"To achieve that, the space mission would provide the necessary boost. Another thing that is being planned is Aditya, a mission to study the solar system from the earth's orbit," said Nair.

[dwarakesh]

ISRO plans robotic lunar rover

Following the success of Chandrayaan-1, the country's first moon mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning a manned space mission as a first step to a manned moon mission.

Delivering a lecture on "India's Recent Space Achievements", ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair said, "Sending man to moon is a very complicated mission. So, as a first step, we plan to develop an Indian spacecraft that will take astronauts across the earth and bring them back." Nair added that government approval for the mission was yet to be received, and that the ISRO was planning the programme for 2015. The ISRO was also in the process of developing technologies for a manned moon mission which would take more than six or seven years, he said.

For the ISRO's next space programme, the government has sanctioned the Chandrayaan-II mission to be launched in 2012. Work on Chandrayaan-II has already started. Under the programme, a robotic lunar rover would smooth land on the moon and conduct experiments. "Adithya" is the another space programme in the pipeline, which will help in studying the solar system by launching a satellite to be stationed within the earth orbit.

Referring to media reports that ISRO was planning a sun mission, Nair said, "There was no plan to send any satellite to sun."

[ganeshbala]

After India's Chandrayaan-1 its Britain's MoonLITE

Britain is set to launch its maiden moon mission to study the phenomenon of mysterious moonquakes, weeks after India's spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 successfully entered the lunar orbit.

The 100-million-pound unmanned mission 'MoonLITE' would aim to understand the cause of mysterious quakes that vibrate through the lunar rock and put it into the satellite's orbit before firing a series of probes into the moon's surface, the daily Telegraph reported on Sunday.

The report said that the launch of Moon Lightweight Interior and Telecommunications Experiment or MoonLITE, will be announced by science minister Lord Drayson in December after which engineers would work on the technical designs with an aim to launch the satellite between 2012 and 2014.

[sajiv]

Chandrayaan mission on target

CHENNAI: Nine out of 11 scientific instruments on board Chandrayaan-1 have been switched on, and the data that have been radioed in by them are being analysed.

According to M. Annadurai, Project Director, Chandrayaan-1, the data include three-dimensional pictures of the Moon's surface taken by the Terrain Mapping Camera, an instrument built by ISRO's Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad.

The TMC has fore, nadir and aft cameras. Of the nine instruments that have been activated, the Moon Impact Probe, painted in the colours of the Indian flag, landed on the Moon on November 14.

Two more to go
The instruments that remain to be activated are the High Energy X-ray Spectrometer (HEX) and the Sub keV Atom Reflecting Analyser (SARA). HEX, built by the Physical Research Laboratory, Bangalore and the ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore, will study the Moon's polar regions for deposits of water ice and prospect areas for high uranium and thorium concentration.

SARA will investigate the surface composition, how its surface reacts to the solar wind and how materials are altered in space. SARA has been jointly built by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics and the Space Physics Laboratory of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram.

HEX and SARA, both high voltage instruments, will be switched on in the first week of December. "These are high voltage systems. You have to wait for some time in orbit before they are switched on," Mr. Annadurai said.

When the ISRO performed a series of manoeuvres by firing Chandrayaan-1's onboard engine to take the spacecraft to the Moon and then lower it into the final lunar orbit at an altitude of 100 km above it, the two systems could have been exposed to gases.

These gases should be "evacuated' before the two instruments were activated, he said. The calibration of instruments was under way. Teams dealing with the instruments were studying the data received. "The science data needs to be fully reviewed and analysed," said Mr. Annadurai.

[dwarakesh]

Chandrayaan-1 records unexplained temperature rise   

Chandrayaan-1 has reportedly encountered an unexplained rise in temperature.

According to ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) Chairman Madhavan Nair, the vessel has recorded a 10 degree increase in temperature, which is hot enough to affect its advanced instruments.

The otherwise uneventful mission has thus far been considered a success. Indeed, 9 scientific instruments on board the ship have been activated and are relaying data, including three-dimensional pictures of the moon's surface. However, the ISRO is still waiting to activate the High Energy X-ray Spectrometer (HEX) and the Sub keV Atom Reflecting Analyser (SARA). The HEX is slated to survey the moon's polar region for the presence of water, uranium and thorium, while the SARA will analyse the surface composition of the lunar body.

"These are high voltage systems. You have to wait for some time in orbit before they are switched on," Project Director M. Annadurai told the Hindu.

Chandrayaan-1 carries 11 payloads, including a Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC), Hyper Spectral Imager (HySI), Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI), High Energy X-ray Spectrometer (HEX), Moon Impact Probe (MIP), Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS), Smart Near-IR Spectrometer (SIR-2), Radiation Dose Monitor Experiment (RADOM), Sub Kev Atom reflecting Analyser (SARA), Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar (MiniSAR) and Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3).

As IT Examiner previously reported, India has already allocated a Rs 425 crore ($86.6 million) budget for the development of the Chandrayaan-2.

"Conceptual studies are in place. Overall configuration is finalised but the scientific experiments are yet to be finalised. It may take six months for finalisation," explained Nair.

The Chandrayaan-2 lander will be manufactured by Russia, while the accompanying moon rover is slated to be jointly designed by New Delhi and Moscow. The payload of Chandrayaan 2 will be finalised after data from its predecessor has been analysed, says ISRO.

Source: The Hindu

[dwarakesh]

Chandrayaan working normally: ISRO

India's unmanned lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan the unmanned lunar spacecraft is functioning normally even though there has been a rise in temperature in the moon's atmosphere, an ISRO official said on Wedneday.

"It is a usual phenomena because it is summer on the moon. There is nothing to worry. It will be normal by December," said Mr Satish, ISRP spokesperson. He said the craft's nine payloads, which have been switched on, are working fine and sending back dat a.

In view of the rise in temperature, ISRO will not work on all the payloads at a given time to ensure that they are not affected by the heat, he said. "Two of the high voltage payloads SARA and Hex will be switched on shortly. These payloads are sensitive equipment and need more voltage. By the first week of December, the atmosphere will become benign on the moon," he said.