Indian Spacecraft to Moon The Chandrayan - 1

28 October, 2008

Indian Spacecraft to Moon The Chandrayan - 1

India's historic maiden mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-I, launched early on Wednesday (today)22nd October 2008 morning at 6.22 am from the mission control room at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh State, India. Exactly after 19 minutes of its take off from the second launch pad at SHAR, the spaceship separated from the launch vehicle, PSLV-C11, and was successfully placed in its orbit.
Chandrayaan-1 is a scientific investigation – by spacecraft – of the Moon.The name Chandrayaan means 'Chandra- Moon , Yaan-vehicle', –in Indian languages (Sanskrit and Hindi) , – the lunar spacecraft. Chandrayaan-1 is the first Indian planetary science and exploration mission.

The spacecraft bus is roughly a 1.5 meter cube with a dry weight of 523 kg. It is based on the Kalpansat meteorological satellite. It will also carry a 30 kg probe designed to be released from the spacecraft and penetrate the lunar surface
India’s first spacecraft will orbit the moon and survey its surface with high resolution equipment to produce a complete map of its chemical characteristics and its three dimensional topography. This is also expected to help find answers to questions about the moon’s origin.
This mission is aimed at high-resolution remote sensing of the moon in visible, near infrared(NIR), low energy X-rays and high-energy X-ray regions.
Specifically the objectives will be:
§ To prepare a three-dimensional atlas (with a high spatial and altitude resolution of 5-10m) of both near and far side of the moon.
§ To conduct chemical and mineralogical mapping of the entire lunar surface for distribution of elements such as Magnesium, Aluminum, Silicon, Calcium, Iron and
Titanium with a spatial resolution of about 25 km and high atomic number elements such as Radon, Uranium & Thorium with a spatial resolution of about 20 km.

This will be really a proud moment for ALL INDIAN when Chandrayaan-1 is successfully launched today.
For ISRO and knowing the efforts that have been put into this project, there is no doubt in my mind that it will be a grand success.

You may send all of your wishes for Chandrayaan-1 to be a grand success to moon@isro.gov.in

The Chandrayaan mission took its first tentative steps towards successful execution with a picture-perfect launch early this morning. The PSLV C-11 lifted off at 6:22 AM sharp, carrying the historic payload along. Although the launch was not clearly visible due to cloud cover, all parameters were normal from the word go.
At this moment, the PSLV has successfully injected the Chandrayaan into an elliptical orbit around Earth. From here, the probe will shift to a 'transfer orbit' and will eventually be captured by the moon's gravity field via a final thrust towards our celestial neighbour. Although the mission is far from complete, the textbook launch has boosted confidence and everyone is looking forward to a successful completion.


Chandrayaan-1's path to the moon:


Along with the scientifc instruments, the Chandrayaan also carries a symbolic Indian flag which is expected to detach from the craft and land on the moon.
At the post-launch press brief, the people behind the launch could not contain their excitement -- there were smiles and giggles all around. The scientists termed today's launch as a red letter day in the history of modern India. G Madhavan Nair, the Chairman of the ISRO quipped that "...it is a historic moment as far as India is concerned.. we have begun our journey to the moon".
The Chandrayaan will take approximately 15 days to reach its intended lunar orbit where it will remain -- continuously mapping the lunar surface and sending back valuable data. It also carries with it, as many as 11 scientific instruments provided by various other space organizations, including 6 from India alone.
Everyone waits with bated breath for the moment when the Chandrayaan launch mission reaches its final stages with its placement into the lunar orbit; a few hours from now.


The focus now shifts tothe ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (Istrac) at Peenya in Bangalore City, India which will be the country's nerve-centre for tracking and controlling Chandrayaan-I for the next two years.
Peenya will receive the first signals from the spacecraft, when the fourth stage of the rocket separates and injects the spacecraft into Earth's orbit. From the 17th minute to the very last day of the spacecraft's life - two years from now.
The Deep Space Network (DSN) at Byalalu will join ISTRAC in tracking the spacecraft six hours after take-off. Both DSN and ISTRAC will act as back-up stations for each other, with ISTRAC concentrating on the data flow from the spacecraft, and DSN helping in reception of the radio signals owing to its powerful 32-metre antenna. But ISTRAC will be the primary agency tracking the craft.
The control centre at ISTRAC has about 350 people monitoring the health of Indian satellites. While there are groups designated for specific satellites, any member from any group could be called upon to help with Chandrayaan.

Chandrayaan, weighing about 1400-kg, is shaped like a cuboid with a solar panel projecting from one of its sides. The spacecraft carries 11 payloads and aims to achieve its primary objectives of expanding scientific knowledge of the moon, upgrading India’s technological capability and providing challenging opportunities for planetary research.
" India started our journey to the moon and the first leg has gone very well....

Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair described the successful launch as a historic moment in India's space programme.
"The launch was perfect and precise. The satellite has been placed in the earth orbit. With this, we have completed the first leg of the mission and it will take 15 days to reach the lunar orbit," Nair announced in the mission control centre shortly after PSLV-C11 put the spacecraft in a transfer orbit.
After circling the earth in its highly elliptical Transfer Orbit for a while, Chandrayaan-1 would be taken into more elliptical orbits by repeated firing of the spacecraft's Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) at opportune moments.
Subsequently, the LAM would be again fired to take the spacecraft to the vicinity of the moon by following a Lunar Transfer Trajectory (LTT) path, whose apogee lies at 3,87,000 km.
Later, when Chandrayaan-1 reaches the vicinity of the moon, its LAM would be fired again so as to slow down the spacecraft sufficiently to enable the gravity of the moon to capture it into an elliptical orbit. The next step would be to reduce the height of the spacecraft orbit around the moon in various steps.
After some more procedures, Chandrayaan-1's orbit would be finally lowered to its intended 100 km height from the lunar surface, which was expected to take place around November 8.
Later, the Moon Impact Probe would be ejected from Chandrayaan-1 in a chosen area following which the cameras and other payloads would be turned on and thoroughly tested, marking the operational phase of the mission.