Chandrayaan-I launched successfully

[dwarakesh]

Centre will fully support ISRO's manned moon mission: Antony

Centre would extend its full support to ISRO's proposed manned moon mission, Defence Minister A K Antony said here today."People from certain quarters have expressed doubt whether India should go for the manned moon mission which is very expensive," Antony said during a function of congress-sponsored 'Janashree Mission', in which ISRO scientists behind the success of Chandrayaan-1 were honoured.

"I am giving an answer to the critics also, that Union government will fully support ISRO's manned moon mission whatever the cost," he said, adding that the ISRO should go ahead with the mission.

On the programmes of 'Janashree Mission', a micro finance scheme for self-help groups, Antony wanted the public sector and other scheduled banks to come forward to provide loans to entrepreneurs under the programme.

He offered Centre's support and co-operation to the programmes of Janashree Mission.

India was able to insulate itself to a great extent from the impact of global recession due to the 'Indian model' of development pursued by Jawaharalal Nehru and nationalisation of banks initiated by Indira Gandhi, he said.

On the issues in Kerala, Antony said the state was a place where disputes and controversies occur on all things. At least in the case of development, there should be a consensus among political parties and common ground for co-operation should be found.

Congress leader and Chairman of Janashree Mission M M Hassan presided over the function. Prime Minister's Principal Secretary T K A Nair was among those present on the occasion.

Source: PTI

[sajiv]

Temp rise in Chandrayaan-1 bothers ISRO

Reports indicate that the temperature inside India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 has gone over 50 degrees Celsius, prompting scientists to explore various options to cool down the unexpected surge.

According to a report by BBC News, scientists say that the problem arose because of very hot temperatures during the lunar orbit. "Now the moon, our satellite and the sun are in same line this means our craft is receiving 1,200 watts of heat from the moon and 1,300 watts from the sun per meter square," said M Annadurai, project director of Indian's moon mission. If the temperature is not kept in check, many instruments on board the orbiter may fail to perform, according to scientists.

This has prompted them to take urgent measures. Most of the instruments are now switched off or being used sparingly.

"We have rotated the spacecraft by 20 degrees and this has helped to reduce the temperature of the craft. We have also switched off certain equipment like mission computers and this has resulted in the reduction of temperature to 40C now. At this temperature, all the equipment can perform very well," Annadurai said.

"Although we did factor in the thermal conditions in the lunar orbit, the temperature is a bit higher than we anticipated," he added.

Annadurai insisted all the instruments carried on board of the satellite have been tested and were working properly.

While the turning-off of certain equipment will have an impact on lunar research, Annadurai said that it was not worth "taking the risk to run it" at present.

Scientists also plan to raise the orbit of the Indian craft to cool it down. It is presently in orbit 100km (62 miles) from the moon.

However, Annadurai said that would only be done as a last resort.

He said that the next month would be critical for the survival of the mission, which has an intended life span of two years.

India launched its first lunar mission on October 22 this year. The mission aims to map the lunar surface, look for traces of water and the presence of helium.

"We are able to use terrain mapping cameras to take picture of the moon whenever required," Annadurai said.

The current difficulties are the first to be experienced by the mission, which has been praised for sending the probe onto the moon's surface.

[sajiv]

Indian scientists tackle heat rise in Chandrayaan-1

Reports indicate that the temperature inside India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 has gone over 50 degrees Celsius, prompting scientists to explore various options to cool down the unexpected surge.

According to a report by BBC News, scientists say that the problem arose because of very hot temperatures during the lunar orbit.

"Now the moon, our satellite and the sun are in same line this means our craft is receiving 1,200 watts of heat from the moon and 1,300 watts from the sun per meter square," said M Annadurai, project director of Indian's moon mission.

ISRO plans manned space mission by 2015

If the temperature is not kept in check, many instruments on board the orbiter may fail to perform, according to scientists.

This has prompted them to take urgent measures. Most of the instruments are now switched off or being used sparingly.

"We have rotated the spacecraft by 20 degrees and this has helped to reduce the temperature of the craft. We have also switched off certain equipment like mission computers and this has resulted in the reduction of temperature to 40C now. At this temperature, all the equipment can perform very well," Annadurai said.

From launch to landing - Indian moon mission's journey

"Although we did factor in the thermal conditions in the lunar orbit, the temperature is a bit higher than we anticipated," he added.

Annadurai insisted all the instruments carried on board of the satellite have been tested and were working properly.

While the turning-off of certain equipment will have an impact on lunar research, Annadurai said that it was not worth "taking the risk to run it" at present.

Scientists also plan to raise the orbit of the Indian craft to cool it down. It is presently in orbit 100km (62 miles) from the moon.

Laser instrument of Chandrayaan turned on However, Annadurai said that would only be done as a last resort.

He said that the next month would be critical for the survival of the mission, which has an intended life span of two years.

India launched its first lunar mission on October 22 this year. The mission aims to map the lunar surface, look for traces of water and the presence of helium.

"We are able to use terrain mapping cameras to take picture of the moon whenever required," Annadurai said.

The current difficulties are the first to be experienced by the mission, which has been praised for sending the probe onto the moon's surface.

[dwarakesh]

Moon's temperature rises, Chandrayaan doing fine

Even as Chandrayaan-1 orbits around the Moon at 100-km distance, the Moon's atmosphere has registered a small rise in temperature that however is not expected to influence the spacecraft in any way.

ISRO officials said the temperature rise was a normal phenomenon because it was summertime on the Moon. Officials said it was not a cause for worry and that the temperature would turn back to normal by December.

The spacecraft's nine payloads, which have been switched on, are working fine and sending back data. But interestingly, owing to the rise in temperature, ISRO will not work on all the payloads at a given time to ensure they are not affected by the heat. That is the only pre-caution necessary at this time.

Meanwhile ISRO's switched on instruments are feeding back data into the data centre at the Deep Space Network at Byalalu. "The data keeps coming in every day. It takes us many weeks to put everything together and analyse the data bit by bit. Scientists will be looking at the pictures to mark out minute differences in each of them. That really takes time. To come to definite conclusions, we have to be sure of the data analysis," an official said.

Two of the high voltage payloads Sara and Hex will be switched on shortly. These payloads are sensitive equipments and need more voltage. By the first week of December, the atmosphere on the Moon is expected to become pleasant and suitable for operation of all instruments.

[ganeshbala]

Ya The Scientist of ISRO said the Chandrayaan is working Normally with Moon Conditions....

Hope it wil do its Best...

[ganeshbala]

Chandrayaan-1 catches 'fever'

The 'moon summer' is melting away the initial joy of India's space scientists over the successful start to the country's first unmanned moon mission, Chandrayaan-1.

In a development that has taken scientists by surprise, the moon-orbiting satellite is heating up within, posing a threat to its nine payloads, which are conducting scientific experiments.

The temperature of Chandrayaan-1's interiors has shot up to 50° C and scientists fear the highly complex instruments that make up the payloads could get damaged if it gets any hotter.

Chandrayaan-1 mission director M Annadurai told DNA that the temperature inside the satellite should be maintained at below 50°C at any cost. Failure could result in mission failure as it could prevent the payloads from working.

It was a jolt for Isro when they realised that the interior of the satellite was at least 10°C hotter than earlier. Chandrayaan-1's temperature was to be maintained at a constant 40°C.

Annadurai said November-December is when the moon has its summer cycle.  Due to the sun's alignment with the moon, the temperature of the spacecraft and within has gone up, he said. The moon's sun-facing side can heat up to 123°C while the side facing away cools down rapidly, often down to -233°C.

Since the satellite is orbiting at an altitude of 100km, that too in the hot zone (lunar equator), its inside temperature has gone up to 50°C. Scientists estimate that the exteriors could be as hot as 100°C. But the heat does not percolate due to the multi-layered insulation.

[dwarakesh]

ISRO gets excited over its Chandrayaan camera

After successfully landing the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) on the lunar surface on November 14, Isro has activated its stereoscopic camera that has provided "very good images," Isro chief Madhavan Nair said today.

"After the landing of MIP on Moon, we have activated stereoscopic camera which has given us very good images. The pictures are already on our website and give fine details of the surface, craters, mountain-like structures," he said on the sidelines of 'Bengaluru Space Expo' here.

"All other instruments on Chandrayaan-I have also been energised. Two instruments, however, remain to be switched off. They are scheduled to be activated by mid-December as they (instruments) require favourable conditions such as sun angle," Nair said.

As MIP was descending, the video (stereoscopic) camera took 3,000 images within 25 minutes. "The closest image was just at the ridge of Shackleton crater and it has given a very vivid image of that. It shows that MIP has precisely landed," he said.

"The mass spectrometer has given data which show the types of elements present on the lunar surface. It (data) has to be calibrated," Nair said.

The altimeter, he said, is another instrument which is supposed to give trajectory. "The work (calibration) is going on and it will take three months. This has confirmed that whatever we have done is on the dot," he added.

[dwarakesh]

Two more Chandrayaan instruments to be activated in mid-December

Two of the 10 remaining scientific instruments onboard India's first unmanned lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 will be activated in mid-December for conducting experiments while the spacecraft orbits over the moon during next two years, a top space agency official said Saturday.

Of the 11 payloads, the moon impact probe (MIP) was successfully lowered onto the lunar surface Nov 14 with excellent results. The other eight instruments are - mini synthetic aperture radar (MiniSAR), moon mineralogy mapper (M3), radiation dose monitor (RADOM), terrain mapping camera (TMC), hyper-spectral imager (HySI), lunar laser ranging instrument (LLRI), imaging x-ray spectrometer (C1XS) and smart near infrared spectrometer (SIR-2).

Five instruments were indigenously built by ISRO, while the remaining six payloads are of foreign origin- three from the European Space Agency, two from the US space agency NASA and one from Bulgaria.

Built jointly by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics and the Space Physics Laboratory of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VKSC) at Thiruvananthapuram, SARA will study the composition of moon, the way its surface reacts to solar wind, how its materials change and the magnetic anomalies.

Similarly, the 16-kg HEX will explore the moon's polar regions (north-south) covered by thick water-ice deposits.

Talking about feedback from the MIP, Nair said the built-in video imaging system (camera) took excellent pictures of the moon's surface, craters, mountain-like structures while descending from the mother spacecraft (Chandrayaan) from about 100-km altitude in 25 minutes.

He was speaking after inaugurating the World Space Biz 2008, a three-day international conference and exhibition on space technology organised by ISRO in association with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The mass spectrometer, which was the second instrument in the MIP, had transmitted valuable data on the elements of the moon's surface and the constituents of the thin lunar atmosphere.

The data, received from the mother spacecraft at the deep space network (DSN) at Byalalu, about 40 km from Bangalore, is being calibrated and studied by ISRO scientists.

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

[NAREN]

Hi Thanks for Posting More Information About the CHANDRAYAAN...

Hope more Information can be collected from MOON
Scientists  are working hard to control Chandrayaan over the Moon.

Keep posting More About the Chandrayaan Updates 

[dwarakesh]

Chandrayaan – 1 is the first step: Annadurai

"There are a lot of achievements that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has made over the years. But, most of them have remained in the backstage. Chandrayaan – 1 has given us the opportunity to bring out our achievements," Project Director of Chandrayaan – 1 M. Annadurai said here on Friday.

He was speaking at a felicitation function organised by Bharathiar University to honour him for the success of the moon mission.

He said that after 12 failed attempts Chandrayaan – 1 was the 13th attempt that had succeeded. "It is a symbol of team spirit," he said.

Terming Chandrayaan – 1 as the first step, he promised that there would be many more steps.

"Now that Chandrayaan – 1 is completed, we are already finalising Chandrayaan – 2. There will be more moon missions."

Accepting the honour bestowed on him by the university, he said he did not consider such felicitations as a celebration of his accomplishments, but as opportunities to tell people about forthcoming endeavours. "We planned the landing on November 14 to commemorate Children's Day. It was our team's gift to the children of India."

Felicitating Mr. Annadurai, Vice-Chancellor G. Thiruvasagam invited him to be a visiting scientist at the DRDO-BU Centre for Life Sciences. "Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has agreed to be one. We will be very happy if Mr. Annadurai too agrees to become one".

Mr. Annadurai interacted with student and faculty representatives drawn from the university and the affiliated colleges.

Source: The Hindu

[sajiv]

Chandrayaan-1 enters lunar orbit successfully

New Delhi: After two weeks of journey India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 entered the lunar orbit on Saturday evening. It started at 16:50 hrs IST and within 14 minutes, it the entered lunar orbit. It is now 504 km from Moon. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said the most critical operation is successful.

"Twenty minutes before Chandrayaan entered the moon's orbit our heart beats stood still. It's successfully entered the orbit and now we are hoping for the next manoeuvre," said ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair.

"The equipments are working perfectly fine and we have already taken a picture from 31000 km distance to check the equipment," he added.

President Pratibha Patil congratulated ISRO on the success of Chandrayaan-1.

By Tuesday the spacecraft will cruise closer to the moon when it makes the transition from the earth's elliptical orbit into deeper space, a top space agency official said Monday.

[ganeshbala]

Doctorate for Chandrayaan director

With one of India's brightest tennis stars not making it to the 17th convocation of Dr MGR Educational and Research Institute to receive an honorary doctorate on Saturday, there was a seismic shift in the focus toward the man who literally aimed for the stars.

While Sania Mirza failed to turn up to receive the Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) bestowed upon her by the university, M Annadurai, the project director of India's first unmanned lunar mission, Chandrayaan- I, received his at the convocation.

When it was announced after about an hour into the proceedings that Sania Mirza would not attend the convocation, a section of the audience booed but they probably would have drawn some solace when it was subsequently announced that she would indeed make it on December 11 to receive her honorary doctorate.

Delivering the convocation address, Dr K Kasturirangan of National Institute of Advanced Studies called for quality in education rather than quantity. "With a national debate going on about revamp of science education in the country which will impact both engineering and medical professions, there is a nagging need to enhance quality in education," he said.

Quoting a study done by a group of academicians, he said the rigid bifurcation insisted upon at the BSc level was severely limiting the competence of science graduates.

"Compartmentalised education introduced in specialized courses such as biotechnology, genetics and nanotechnology at the graduate level ensures that the students hardly learned the basics," Kasturirangan said.

He also noted that for the size of India's academic and research system, it was pitiable that the country was producing only about 5000 Ph.

Ds annually which was abysmally low when compared to countries such as the US and China.

Later, on receiving his Doctor of Science from A C Shanmugam, chancellor of Dr MGR University, Annadurai pointed out that India's lunar mission was rendered possible only by the trust and confidence that Dr Kasturirangan bestowed upon him and his colleagues.

"In 1999, when the concept of Chandrayaan was formulated, it was Dr Kasturirangan who predicted that India could achieve the launch by the end of 2008 and that's what happened," he said.

Calling upon students not to go to the US to seek jobs, Annadurai pointed out there was ample job opportunities available in the country.

"It is important to be job providers rather than just be a job seeker. If you try hard enough you can even provide a job for others on the moon," he said.

Commending India for its various achievements in the field of science, Andrew T Simkin, US Consul General, pointed out the growing importance of the country at the global level. "Indian naval force is taking steps to counter piracy in the high seas which is commendable. The fact that the country provides more workforce to the US than any other country points to its global importance," he said.

Source ; Expressbuzz

[dwarakesh]

Chandrayaan Success Boosts Space Awareness

The Chandrayaan  launch  seems to have stirred a hornet's nest by rejuvenating the interest in the field of science and technology in the country.

The country, which is experiencing a dearth of researchers and scientists, is finding this new-found interest in science a positive change. Especially students who have been very closely following the Chandrayaan saga that began with the launch of the craft back in October seem to be extremely interested in the mission.

The Government also seems to be buoyant and is set to concentrate more on the yearly Children's Science Congress Program that is aimed at promoting scientific activities among students. If that as not all, according to a recent Indian Express report, Government officials from the Department of Science and Technology, are planning to aid those who want to make a lucrative career in this field. The current system offers little incentives to prospective researchers and many for the same reason venture out looking for greener pastures.

The scientific community in the country hopes that the tremendous rise in interest amongst people for this field will eventually translate into more people making concrete careers in the field of science and technology.

[ganeshbala]

The Chandrayaan Team

Chairman, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation)



Is the Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation and Secretary to Department of Space, Government of India since September 2003. He is also the Chairman, Space Commission.

Nair, a leading technologist in the field of rocket systems, made significant contribution to the development of multi-stage satellite launch vehicles, achieving self-reliance in independent access to space using indigenous technologies. Nair and his team have worked relentlessly in the face of several challenges in the regime of technology denials by adopting several innovations and novel techniques to realise world class launch vehicle systems. India today has a pride of place amongst the space-faring nations in launch vehicle technology.

Specifically, as Project Director, he led the development of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) which has since become the workhorse for launching mainly Indian remote sensing satellites.

As Director of ISRO's largest R & D Centre, the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, he also saw India's Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) successfully coming to fruition. Further, as Director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre of ISRO, he played a central role in the design and development of the crucial cryogenic engine for GSLV.

Born at Neyyattinkara near Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, he graduated with a B. SC in Engineering (1966) from College of Engineering there with specialization in Electrical & Communication. After his graduation Nair attended Bhabha Atomic Research Centre Training School, Mumbai.

A highly decorated scientist he was conferred the "Padma Bhushan" in 1998 in recognition of his services to the Country in field of science.

M Annadurai



Project Director, Chandrayaan-1

Prior to the present appointment, Annadurai was in Charge of India`s National Communication satellite (INSAT) missions as the Mission Director. He has also served as the Associate Project director, for GSAT-3EDUSAT. He was the member secretary of the task team that prepared Chandrayaan-1 project report. He is the author of several research papers in his specialisation.

Born on 2 July, 1958, in Kothawady near Pollachi in Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu He obtained his Masters Degree in Engineering from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore and joined ISRO in 1982.

TK Alex

Director, ISAC (ISRO Satellite Centre)

Starting with the first Indian Satellite Aryabhata he has been responsible for the sensor systems in all the Indian satellites. Under his leadership the Laboratory for Electro Optics Systems was established in 1993 and from the inception he has been its Director.

He developed new mathematical models for the IR radiation of the Earth in carbon dioxide band, which is correlated to geographical location, seasons and solar cycle. He developed new algorithm for improving attitude accuracy of satellites using earth sensor by on-board error correction and another one for the estimation of angular rate of satellites using star sensors.

Dr Alex contributed significantly in configuring most of the Indian satellites. He was the Head of the Sensor Systems Division of ISAC and Project manager for the attitude control systems of IRS-I. He was the Principal Scientist for SMART camera of Rohini-D2 satellite . As Project Director for the remote sensing experiment conducted during first Indian Manned Space Flight, he was involved in the training of the cosmonaut and participated in the launch campaign and data utilization projects. He was the Study Director of IRS-IC/ID satellite which carried the worlds best imaging cameras for civilian application. He was the Project Director for the Advanced Sensor Development Project in which a number of detectors for space application were developed. He is now involved in the management of the Chandrayaana Project, a mission to the Moon and is guiding the development of a Laser altimeter for study of the topography of Moon.

Dr T K Alex received is gold medalist and received his bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from the Kerala University, did his Masters from I.I.T, Madras and Doctorate from I.I.Sc, Bangalore in Aerospace Engineering. Dr Alex specializes in Electro-Optic systems for space.

Mission Directors


Srinivas Hegde, George Koshy

Entrusted with the responsibility for the entire flight. They gave the final nod for the launch after all the systems are a 'go' for the lift off.

MYS Prasad

Associate Director of the Sriharikota Complex and Range Operations Director

He is responsible for all important pre-launch operations like fuelling and assembling at Sriharikota.

SK Shivakumar

Director of ISRO's Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network

His work involves communication between the spacecraft and the ground stations. The most critical moment for him will be when the spacecraft enters the lunar orbit.

JN Goswami

Director of the Ahmedabad-based Physical Research Laboratory and Principal Scientific Investigator of Chandrayaan-1

He is tasked with the responsibility of overseeing the entire scientific data beamed from the spacecraft.
Narendra Bhandari

Head, ISRO`s Planetary Sciences and Exploration program

The following ISRO Centres are participating in the Chandrayaan Mission -1

1. ISRO Headquarters, Bangalore, India

2. ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bangalore, India

3. Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, India

4. Space Application Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad, India

5. ISRO Telemetry , Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bangalore, India

6. Laboratory for Electro Optic Systems (LEOS), Bangalore, India

7. Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, India

8. Space Physics Laboratory (SPL), VSSC, Thiruvananthapuram, India

9. National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), Hyderabad, India

10. Liquid Propulsion Systems Center (LPSC) Bangalore & Mahendragiri, India

11. ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU),Thiruvananthapuram, India

International Groups participating in Chandrayaan Mission -1 are

12. Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK

13. Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy, Lindau,Germany

14. Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna, Sweden

15. Solar-Terrestrial Influences Laboratory, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria

16. Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety, France

17. Nuclear Physics Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, Czechoslovakia

18. Applied Physics Lab, Johns Hopkins University, MD, USA

19. Naval Air Warfare Centre, Chinalake, CA, USA

20. Brown University, USA

21. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA

22. Centre d`Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements, Toulouse, France

23. University of Helsinki, Finland

24. ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), Peenya, Malaysia

[dwarakesh]

Chandrayaan II design complete

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday said that the design for Chandrayaan II has been completed and it will be launched by 2012.

"The designs for Chandrayaan II have been completed and we hope to launch it by 2012," ISRO chairperson G Madhavan Nair told reporters here on the sidelines of a function organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to felicitate the Chandrayaan I team.

The Chandrayaan II project is slated to land a small rover on the moon's surface and collect and analyse samples, he said.

The ISRO has made another achievement recently, when a commercial satellite built by the organisation for the European satellite operator, Eutelsat, was successfully launched from French Guiana in South America.

Nair noted that the ISRO was earning about Rs 10 billion (Rs 1,000 crore) annually from its commercial wing. This is expected to grow at 20 percent per year, he added.

[dwarakesh]

Chandrayaan reveals moon images taken by M3

The Chandrayaan is now revealing images of the moon taken by M3 - the Moon Mineralogy Mapper. M3, one of the 11 payloads on Chandrayaan, is an American device.

These images give new information on the composition of the moon's surface. These images will now help scientists explore and understand Earth's nearest neighbour.

The image was taken by Chandrayaan as the spacecraft orbited the moon at an altitude of 100 km. It reveals changes in rock and mineral composition, shows the abundance of iron-rich minerals such as pyroxene, and details the form and structure of the region's surface.

[dwarakesh]

NASA instrument on Chandrayaan finds minerals on moon

The moon mineralogy mapper (M3), a scientific instrument of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) onboard India's first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1, found iron-bearing minerals on the lunar surface, the US space agency said on Thursday.

"The mapper spectrometer has beamed images of the Orientale Basin region of the moon, indicating abundance of iron-bearing minerals such as pyroxene. Using different wavelengths of light, the instrument has also revealed for the first time changes in rock and mineral composition," M3 principal investigator Carle Pieters said in a statement hosted on NASA website.

Data from the 7-kg mapper provides space scientists first opportunity to examine lunar mineralogy at high spatial and spectral resolution.

The Orientale Basin is located on the moon's western limb. M3 captured the data last week when Chandrayaan was orbiting the moon at an altitude of 100 km.

"The imaging spectrometer provides us with compositional information across the moon that we have never had access to before. Our ability to identify and map the composition of the surface in geologic context provides a new level of detail needed to explore and understand the earth's nearest celestial neighbour," affirmed Pieters, who teaches at Brown University in Rhode Island.

The mapper was selected as a mission of opportunity through the NASA discovery programme. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory designed and built the instrument at Pasadena in California.

"M3 will also help in characterising and mapping lunar minerals for knowing the moon's early geological evolution. Its compositional maps will improve our understanding of the early evolution of a differentiated planetary body and provide a high-resolution assessment of lunar resources," Chandrayaan project director M Annadurai averred.

M3 is one of the 10 instruments onboard the unmanned Chandrayaan, conducting experiments while the spacecraft orbits over the moon next two years.

Five instruments were indigenously built by the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), while the remaining six payloads are of foreign origin, including three from the European Space Agency, two from NASA and one from Bulgaria.

Chandrayaan was blasted off Oct 22 onboard the 316-tonne polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV-C11) from ISRO's Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota spaceport, about 80 km north of Chennai.

After traversing 384,000 km through the deep space for 18 days, the spacecraft entered the lunar orbit Nov 8 and its moon impact probe was lowered on the moon's surface Nov 14.

[sajiv]

Chandrayaan finds minerals on Moon 

The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), a scientific instrument of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) onboard India's first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1, found iron-bearing minerals on the lunar surface, the US space agency said on Thursday.

"The mapper spectrometer has beamed images of the Orientale Basin region of the Moon, indicating abundance of iron-bearing minerals such as pyroxene. Using different wavelengths of light, the instrument has also revealed for the first time changes in rock and mineral composition," M3 principal investigator Carle Pieters said in a statement hosted on NASA website.

Data from the 7-kg mapper provides space scientists first opportunity to examine lunar mineralogy at high spatial and spectral resolution.

The Orientale Basin is located on the moon's western limb. M3 captured the data last week when Chandrayaan was orbiting the Moon at an altitude of 100 km.

"The imaging spectrometer provides us with compositional information across the moon that we have never had access to before. Our ability to identify and map the composition of the surface in geologic context provides a new level of detail needed to explore and understand the earth's nearest celestial neighbour," affirmed Pieters, who teaches at Brown University in Rhode Island.

The mapper was selected as a mission of opportunity through the NASA discovery programme. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory designed and built the instrument at Pasadena in California.

"M3 will also help in characterising and mapping lunar minerals for knowing the moon's early geological evolution. Its compositional maps will improve our understanding of the early evolution of a differentiated planetary body and provide a high-resolution assessment of lunar resources," Chandrayaan project director M Annadurai averred.

M3 is one of the 10 instruments onboard the unmanned Chandrayaan, conducting experiments while the spacecraft orbits over the moon next two years.

Five instruments were indigenously built by the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), while the remaining six payloads are of foreign origin, including three from the European Space Agency, two from NASA and one from Bulgaria.

Chandrayaan was blasted off Oct 22 onboard the 316-tonne polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV-C11) from ISRO's Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota spaceport, about 80 km north of Chennai.

After traversing 384,000 km through the deep space for 18 days, the spacecraft entered the lunar orbit Nov 8 and its moon impact probe was lowered on the moon's surface Nov 14.

[dwarakesh]

Chandrayaan finds iron-bearing minerals on moon

An experiment onboard India's maiden moon mission Chandrayaan-I has found iron-bearing minerals in abundance on the lunar surface, initial reports suggest.

Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has beamed back images of the Orientale Basin on the western limb of the moon.

An analysis of the images indicates abundance of iron-bearing minerals such as pyroxene, said Carle Pieters, a senior scientist of US-based Brown University and principal investigator for the M3 experiment.

The images were captured by the M3 during the commissioning phase of Chandrayaan-1, launched on October 22, as the spacecraft orbited the moon at an altitude of 100 kms.

"The M3 provides us with compositional information across the moon that we have never had access to before," Pieters said, adding that the ability to now identify and map the composition of the surface in geologic context provided a new level of detail needed to explore and understand the moon.

M3 is one of the 10 instruments onboard the unmanned Chandrayaan, conducting experiments while the spacecraft orbits over the moon next two years.

Five instruments were indigenously built by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), while the remaining six experiments are of foreign origin, including three from the European Space Agency, two from NASA and one from Bulgaria.

[sajiv]

Chandrayaan symbolic of future

Coimbatore: Highlighting the importance of team effort, Chandrayaan-1 Project Director M Annadurai on Monday said the success of the country's maiden Moon mission was symbolic of what India could be in future.

"It (Chandrayaan-1) demonstrated how India could get along and lead a team of technical and scientific experts from internationally reputed organisations to realise an ambitious mission," he said while delivering an address at the Amrita University here.

"Team spirit is the mantra for achieving something big," Annadurai told the students.

"Harmonising efforts of all team members towards a common goal and realising the objective with an allotted budget and schedule demonstrated how good the team has converted a very difficult situation into a historic opportunity," he said.

The International Lunar Exploration Working Group's International Cooperation Award was given to ISRO Chandrayaan-1 team, for the "challenging accommodation and tests" of the most international lunar payload ever -- from 20 countries -- with the successful launch on the PSLV on Oct 22 and for the successful lunar insertion on November 8, 2008, he said.

"If ISRO can achieve such a feat, why not other Indian teams. As a team we can do wonders. It can be accomplished as a team in all the fields, let it be in education, medicine, industry, trade, commerce, press, electronic media, sports, arts, service department and even in politics," Annadurai said.

Interacting with engineering students in Madurai yesterday, Chandrayaan-1 Project Director M Annadurai said the ISRO has started working on Chandrayaan II.

Plans for Chandrayaan III were also underway, he said.

Chandrayaan II would land a small rover on the moon's surface, collect and analyse samples, while Chandrayaan III envisages having a spacecraft land on the moon and bring back samples from it to the Earth.

Noting that investment of Rs.386 crore was profitable, he said that scientists from NASA, European space agency, Japan and Bulgaria also worked with ISRO on Chandrayaan I mission.

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Chandrayaan's MIP Images Soon

The Chandrayaan saga continues even after two months of its launch. Post the successful launch, it is now the turn of the onboard equipments to daze us earthlings.

ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) is all set to release a set of pictures taken from the Moon Impact Probe (MIP), which crash landed on the lunar surface. The images were taken while the probe was on its 25-minute descent towards the lunar surface. The MIP had detached from the orbiting Chandrayaan and landed on the moon at 8:31 IST on November 14, 2008. While two images were released soon after the landing, no more were released after that.

ISRO officials, however, now say that almost 3200 images taken by the probe would be revealed very soon. These include images from the Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC) as well, one of the key equipments aboard the Chandrayaan. These images are being  analyzed closely at ISRO's Ahmedabad-based Space Applications Center. They include the ones that were taken from a point very close to the lunar surface. The last photograph taken by the MIP was at a height of just two odd kilometers from the lunar surface! Scientists are busy studying the features of the lunar surface before they release the photographs for viewing by the general public.

Some of these images present a never-before seen view of the moon as this is the first time that the moon has been so comprehensively mapped.

The Chandrayaan had probes from China and Japan aboard as well. In fact, the Chinese have just revealed a 3D map of the lunar surface, generated by using data from the Chang'e-1 probe. Japan's probe Kaguya, on the other hand, is continuously taking pictures of various locations on the moon. According to ISRO officials, images from the Chandrayaan would be better than existing ones owing to the low orbital height of the Chandrayaan and, not to mention, the higher resolution cameras on board.

The data garnered by the mission will be made available to institutions and agencies worldwide to provide mankind a better perspective of the lunar surface.

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Chandrayaan heroes felicitated

Thrissur: K. Radhakrishnan, director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, and M. C. Dathan, director of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, who had played key roles in India's maiden moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, were felicitated at separate functions here on Friday.

The district administration felicitated Mr. Radhakrishnan, a native of Irinjalakuda in Thrissur district, at the Town Hall here.

Mr. Radhakrishnan said the biggest achievement of Chandrayaan-1 was that it had inspired the youth of the country to pursue their interests in science and technology.

He said the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was planning to land a Rover on the moon within seven years.

"By 2020, India is expected to launch a manned mission to moon." Answering questions posed by school students, Mr. Radhakrishnan said Chandrayaan-1 was a remote-sensing spacecraft for scanning the lunar surface for minerals and water.

He said the ISRO's Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology was being developed as a centre of international standards. "It will provide graduate-level training in disciplines related to space programmes and enterprises. It will be run along the lines of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and the International Space University in France," he said.

Asked what his childhood dream was, he said, "I wanted to do something unique. I think I have done this."

Revenue Minister K. P. Rajendran, Mayor R. Bindu, District Panchayat president Ambadi Venu, Babu M. Palissery, B. D. Devassy, Thomas Unniyadan and Rajaji Mathew Thomas, MLAs, were present on the occasion.

The Thrissur Government Engineering College felicitated Mr. Dathan, its alumnus, at a function held on the campus.

He said that most of ISRO's initiatives were aimed at improving the life of the common man.

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Chandrayaan gave full pic of Moon 

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G Madhavan Nair today said the successful of Chandrayan-1 mission has enabled the scientific community in the country to get a complete picture of the moon's surface and that too to an extent of five metre resolution.

"Though several moon missions were there in the past, no mission had provided pictures and data about the entire surface of the moon. However, Chandrayan-1 is the first mission which will give data on the entire surface," Nair said.

"It is also sending pictures of moon's surface to the extent of five metre resolution, which no other country is currently getting. Even the US is not getting that quality of picture of Moon," Nair said.

Nair said even the US, the leading country in the field of space science research, is getting pictures of moon's surface in 100 metre resolution.

At a talk on 'Indian Space Programme' the ISRO chief said, the pictures sent by the mission would help India exploring the Moon's surface in a better way and identify minerals on the surface.

"In last two months Chandrayan-1 has sent more than 40,000 images to the base station," Nair said.

Nair said the Indian Space agency would be able to complete manned moon mission by 2015 AD and added that the transponder capacity would be increased to 500 by the end of 11th Plan period. At present ISRO is operating 211 transponders.

'Indian on Moon by 2020'
The ISRO proposed to undertake the country's first manned Moon mission by 2020 following the success of Chandrayaan-I, project director of Chandrayaan-I M Annadurai has said.

The successful launch of Chandrayaan-I in October last year has given space scientists the confidence to undertake manned mission to moon, Annadurai told reporters here yesterday.

The Chandrayaan-II mission is expected to be undertaken within a couple of years followed by Chandrayaan-III, he said.

Several countries have approached India to set up a common lunar research centre for conducting various studies, the director added.

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Chandrayaan beams back 40,000 images in 75 days

Forty thousand and counting. The Rs 386-crore Indian Moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, which completes a flawless 100 days around January 30 has transmitted more than 40,000 images of different types since its launch on October 22, 2008, which many in ISRO believe is quite a record compared to the lunar flights of other nations.

ISRO officials estimated that if more than 40,000 images have been transmitted by Chandrayaan's cameras in 75 days, it worked out to nearly 535 images being sent daily. They are first transmitted to Indian Deep Space Network at Byalalu near Bangalore, from where they are flashed to ISRO's telemetry, tracking and command network at Bangalore.

They said some of these images have a resolution of up to five metres providing a sharp and clear picture of the Moon's surface. On the other hand, they said many images sent by some of the other missions had a 100-metre resolution.

On November 26, the indigenous Terrain Mapping Camera, which was first activated on October 29, 2008, took shots of peaks along with craters. This came as a surprise to ISRO officials because the Moon consists largely only of craters.

Buoyed by the success of Chandrayaan-1, ISRO is now planning a more ambitious lunar venture around 2020 after the Chandrayaan-2 in 2012: a manned mission. This was stated by none other than the man behind India's maiden lunar mission, Mylswamy Annadurai, Chandrayaan-1's project director, while speaking to TOI recently.

Annadurai said around 2015, ISRO is embarking on a manned mission to the low earth orbit, which is 2000 km above the Earth. "An Indian on the Moon is, therefore, certainly the next logical step and ISRO is definitely considering it,'' he said.

On November 14, India's first spaceman Rakesh Sharma said the landing of the indigenous 29-kg Moon Impact Probe on the lunar surface was the first step towards establishing the capabilities for a subsequent human flight to the Moon by India, the probe was one of the 11 scientific payloads on Chandrayaan-1.

They cited the case of China and Japan which are working on a manned mission to the Moon around 2020 apart from the US. "Keeping this in view can India lag behind in this human race to the Moon?'' a space expert from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research requesting anonymity asked.

With regards to Chandrayaan-1, a meeting of all the principal investigators of the different scientific experiments is being held in Bangalore on January 29 to review the preliminary results.

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ISRO to examine Chandrayaan's preliminary data

Scientists at India space research organization will examine preliminary data from Chandrayaan- 1 in Bangalore on Thursday.

This after all elevan instruments on board were successfully deployed. India's first unmanned mission to the moon has completed 100 days orbiting with all its 11 instruments working.

The session will be chaired by Professor George Joseph.

The day-long session at ISRO Satellite Centre assumes significance in view of some encouraging findings thrown up after India's historic moon odyssey.

Till now scientists had monitored progress based on photographic evidence taken by instruments on board the spacecraft.

Chandrayaan is a two-year mission, and it is collecting data in humongous quantities.

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ISRO confident of unexpected results from Chandrayaan-1 data

As ISRO scientists are decoding the data sent by Chandrayaan-1 from the Moon, the space agency is confident that India's first lunar mission would reveal "unexpected results and things". "The data have been collected from unexplored area.

We are well positioned with these data. We can tell the world that we have found many things, which no explorer has seen so far," Chandrayaan-I Project Director M Annadurai said today, while interacting with students of Avanashilingam University for Women here.

Replying to a question by a student whether India can achieve any unexpected results from the mission, he said scientists were working on it (data). "It may take some more time to review, re-evaluate and publish," he said.

Stating that the research carried out on the stone brought from the moon some 30 years ago had revealed the existence of water there only at the fag end of 2008, he said India's data would definitely show the world something which nobody had seen so far. To another question, he said there were absolutely no plans to bring oil or water, even if existed on the moon.

"We are not trying to bring oil, water or any other mineral except Helium-3, for utilising in the Earth. We are exploring whether humans can sustain in the conditions prevailing on the Moon," he said.

Source: PTI

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ISRO chief seeks clarity on atmospheric changes

KANNUR: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G. Madhavan Nair has stressed the need for a clear strategy for reading atmospheric changes as there are opposing views on their impact.

Inaugurating the Kannur University Department of Atmospheric Sciences on the university's Mangattuparamba campus here on Sunday, Dr. Nair said there were opposing views on the adverse impact of global warming, snowmelt and vanishing glaciers.

Even today, people understand very little of atmospheric changes and vagaries of climate, he said adding that though there were global models of climate change available now, these models were not applicable to tropical regions which were not amenable to accurate predictions.

Stating that data provided by Indian satellites were one of the best available in the world, Dr. Nair said that Chandrayaan-1 was one of the very sophisticated spacecraft.
50,000 images of moon

All the instruments on board Chandrayan-1 were working accurately, he said adding that it was today orbiting the moon at 100 km altitude.

He said that the ISRO had collected large volume of data including 50,000 images of the moon.

The data were going to provide very valuable information to the scientific community the world over, he said.

The ISRO chief, who was honoured by the university at the function, said that a lander and rover were planned in the Chandrayan-2 mission by 2012.

He said that atmospheric science had to mature to be more scientific and accurate so that local people would be benefited.

University Vice-Chancellor P. Chandramohan presided over the function. Pro Vice-Chancellor K. Kunhikrishnan made the introductory remarks.

Registrar K.M. Abdur Rasheed; Syndicate member A.P. Kuttykrishnan; Senate member P. Jayarajan; and university union vice-chairman P. Deepak were among those present at the function.

Source: Hindu

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Chandrayaan a wake up call, says Annadurai

COIMBATORE: After 2010 there will be many moon missions undertaken by other countries. Anticipating this, we wanted to complete ours before they began. When we step into the moon tomorrow, we should be leaders among the other countries, Project Director of Chandrayaan – 1 M. Annadurai said here on Saturday. Responding to a felicitation given by Avinashilingam University for Women, he said the mission that was slated to be completed in seven years was accomplished in a record time of four years without any hitch.

"The Rs. 355 crore that was spent for the mission is not too high a cost for this kind of achievement. This is to show that we can achieve anything if we can work as a team. You need not have a background. Opportunities do not always knock at our doors. But, when they knock, we should be able to respond to them as a team. That will yield the best results," Mr. Annadurai said.

Asking students to hold on to opportunities offered by the country, he said, "It is not a pride to go abroad and earn. India is throwing a red carpet of opportunities for you to grab. When India has given me the opportunity, it can give each one of you also".

Terming the moon mission a "wake up" call not only for the U.S., but also for India, he said it was something the youth could look up to for doing more for the country. Since India could boast of a large youth population, it should serve as a productive human resource. He asked the students to be environmentally conscious. "Women have a more important role in this duty because they have to take on the role of teachers to their children at home. The role of a mother as a teacher is more significant than any other," Mr. Annadurai said.

T.K. Shanmuganandam, Chancellor, Saroja Prabhakaran, Vice-Chancellor, and Lakshmi Santa Rajagopal, former Vice-Chancellor, of the university were among those who offered felicitations.

Source: Hindu