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By
Wikipedia,
Chandrayaan-1, (Sanskrit: चंद्रयान-१, lit: Moon-vehicle On November 14, 2008, the Moon Impact Probe separated from the Moon-orbiting Chandrayaan at 20:06 and impacted the lunar south pole in a controlled manner, making India the fourth country to place its flag on the Moon. The MIP impacted near the crater Shackleton, at the lunar south pole, at 20:31 on 14 November 2008 releasing subsurface debris that could be analysed for presence of water ice. The estimated cost for the project is Rs. 386 crore (US$ 80 million). The remote sensing lunar satellite had a weight of 1,380 kilograms (3,042 lb) at launch and 675 kilograms (1,488 lb) in lunar orbitand carries high resolution remote sensing equipment for visible, near infrared, and soft and hard X-ray frequencies. Over a two-year period, it is intended to survey the lunar surface to produce a complete map of its chemical characteristics and 3-dimensional topography. The polar regions are of special interest, as they might contain ice. The lunar mission carries five ISRO payloads and six payloads from other international space agencies including NASA, ESA, and the Bulgarian Aerospace Agency, which were carried free of cost. ObjectivesThe stated scientific objectives of the mission are:
Specifications
Specific areas of study
Payloads
The scientific payload has a total mass of 90 kg and contains six Indian instruments and five foreign instruments. Indian Payloads
Payload from Other countries
Space flightThis video entitles the launch of Indian Lunar exploration mission, Chandrayaan-1 by PSLV C11.Chandrayaan-1 was launched on 22 October 2008 at 6.22 am IST from Satish Dhawan Space Centre using ISRO's 44.4 metre tall four-stage PSLV launch rocket, and it took 21 days to reach final lunar orbit. ISRO's telemetry, tracking and command network (ISTRAC) at Peenya in Bangalore, will track and control Chandrayaan-1 over the next two years of its life span. Chandrayaan-1 was sent to the Moon in a series of orbit-increasing manoeuvres around Earth instead of a direct shot to the Moon. At launch the spacecraft was inserted into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) with an apogee of 22,860 km and a perigee of 255 km. The apogee was increased with a series of five orbit burns conducted over a period of 13 days after launch. 100 days of Chandrayaan-1 launch Scientists from India, US and Europe conducted high-level review of Chandrayaan-1 on January 29, 2009 after the Chandrayaan-1 completed its 100 days in space. Earth orbit burns
The first orbit-raising manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was performed at 09:00 hrs IST on 23 October 2008 when the spacecraft’s 440 Newton Liquid Engine was fired for about 18 minutes by commanding the spacecraft from Spacecraft Control Centre (SCC) at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Peenya, Bangalore. With this Chandrayaan-1’s apogee was raised to 37,900 km, and its perigee to 305 km. In this orbit, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft took about 11 hours to go around the Earth once.
The second orbit-raising manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was carried out on 25 October 2008 at 05:48 IST when the spacecraft’s engine was fired for about 16 minutes, raising its apogee to 74,715 km, and its perigee to 336 km, thus completing 20 percent of its journey. In this orbit, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft took about twenty-five and a half hours to go round the Earth once. This is the first time an Indian spacecraft has gone beyond the 36,000 km high geostationary orbit and reached an altitude more than twice that height.
The third orbit raising manoeuvre was initiated on 26 October 2008 at 07:08 IST when the spacecraft’s engine was fired for about nine and a half minutes. With this its apogee was raised to 164,600 km, and the perigee to 348 km. In this orbit, Chandrayaan-1 took about 73 hours to go around the Earth once.
The fourth orbit raising manoeuvre was carried out on 29 October 2008 at 07:38 IST when the spacecraft’s engine was fired for about three minutes, raising its apogee to 267,000 km and the perigee to 465 km. This extended its orbit to a distance more than half the way to the Moon. In this orbit, the spacecraft took about six days to go around the Earth once.
The fifth and final orbit raising manoeuvre was carried out on 4 November 2008 04:56 am IST when the spacecraft’s engine was fired for about two and a half minutes resulting in Chandrayaan-1 entering the Lunar Transfer Trajectory with an apogee of about 380,000 km. Lunar orbit insertionChandrayaan-1 successfully completed the lunar orbit insertion operation on 8th Nov 2008 at 16:51 IST. This manoeuvre involved firing of the liquid engine for 817 seconds (about thirteen and half minutes) when the spacecraft passed within 500 km from the Moon. The satellite was placed in an elliptical orbit that passed over the polar regions of the Moon, with 7502 km aposelene (point farthest away from the Moon) and 504 km periselene (nearest to the Moon). The orbital period was estimated to be around 11 hours. With the successful completion of this operation, India became the fifth nation to put a vehicle in lunar orbit.
First Lunar Orbit Reduction Manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1 was carried out successfully on 9 November 2008 at 20:03 IST. During this, the engine of the spacecraft was fired for about 57 seconds. This reduced the periselene from 504 km to 200 km while aposelene remained unchanged at 7,502 km. In this elliptical orbit, Chandrayaan-1 took about ten and a half hours to circle the Moon once.
This manoeuvre, which resulted in steep decrease in Chandrayaan-1’s aposelene from 7,502 km to 255 km and its periselene from 200 km to 187 km, was carried out on 10 November 2008 at 21:58 IST. During this manoeuvre, the engine was fired for about 866 seconds (about fourteen and half minutes). Chandrayaan-1 took two hours and 16 minutes to go around the Moon once in this orbit.
Third Lunar Orbit Reduction was carried out by firing the on board engine for 31 seconds on 11 November 2008 at 18:30 IST. This reduced the periselene from 187 km to 101 km, while the aposelene remained constant at 255 km. In this orbit Chandrayaan-1 took two hours and 9 minutes to go around the Moon once.
Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was successfully placed into a mission-specific lunar polar orbit of 100 km above the lunar surface on 12 November 2008. In the final orbit reduction manoeuvre, Chandrayaan-1’s aposelene was reduced from 255 km to 100 km while the periselene was reduced from 101 km to 100 km. In this orbit, Chandrayaan-1 takes about two hours to go around the Moon once. Two of the 11 payloads – the Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC) and the Radiation Dose Monitor (RADOM) – have already been successfully switched on. The TMC has successfully taken pictures of both the Earth and the Moon. Injection of MIP on lunar surfaceThe Moon Impact Probe (MIP) crash-landed on the lunar surface on 14 November 2008, 15:01 UTC (20:31 Indian Standard Time (IST)) near the crater Shackleton at the south pole. The MIP was one of eleven scientific instruments (payloads) onboard Chandrayaan-1. The MIP separated from Chandrayaan at 100 km from lunar surface and began its nosedive at 14:36 UTC (20:06 IST) going into a free fall for thirty minutes. As it fell, it kept sending information back to the mother satellite which, in turn, beamed the information back to Earth. The altimeter then also began recording measurements to prepare for a rover to land on the lunar surface during a second Moon mission planned for 2012. When the MIP was closer to the surface, rockets were fired to slow down its speed and to soften impact. Following the successful deployment of MIP, the other scientific instruments were turned on one-by-one starting the next phase of the two-year mission. Rise in space craft temperatureISRO had reported on 25 November, 2008 that Chandrayaan-1's temperature had risen above normal to 50°C, they said that it had occurred due to higher than normal temperatures in lunar orbit. The temperature has been brought down by about 10°C by rotating the space craft by 20 degrees and switching off some of the instruments. Subsequently ISRO reported on 27 November, 2008 that the space craft was operating under normal temperature conditions. In subsequent reports ISRO says, since the space craft is still recording higher than normal temperatures, it will be running only one instrument at a time until January 2009 when lunar orbital temperature conditions are said to stabilise. The space craft was experiencing these high temperatures because it is currently over the sunlit side of the Moon, where it will be receiving energy both from the Sun and infrared radiation given off by the Moon. Mapping of mineralsThe mineral content on the lunar surface has been mapped with Moon Mineralogy Mapper(M3), a NASA instrument on board the orbiter. The presence of iron has been reiterated and changes in rock and mineral composition has been identified. Orientale Basin region of the Moon has been mapped, indicating abundance of iron-bearing minerals such as pyroxene. Mapping of Apollo landing sitesThe landing sites of the Apollo Moon missions have been mapped by the orbiter using multiple payloads. Six of the sites have been mapped including that of Apollo 11, the first mission that put humans on the Moon. Chandrayaan beams back 40,000 images in 75 daysChandrayaan-1 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 (ISTRAC) at Bangalore. They said some of these images have a resolution of up to 5-metre 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 mostly of craters. Detection of X-Ray signalsThe X-ray signatures of aluminium, magnesium and silicon were picked up by the C1XS X-ray camera. The signals were picked up during a solar flare that caused an X-ray fluorescence phenomenon. The flare that caused the fluorescence was weaker that the minimum the C1XS was designed to sense but was still picked up, highlighting its sensitivity. Full Earth imageOn March 25, 2009 Chandrayaan beamed back the first images of the Earth in its entirety. These images were taken with the TMC. Previous imaging has been done on only part of the Earth. The new images show Asia, parts of Africa and Australia with India being in the center. Chandrayaan-1 orbit raised to 200 km from moonAfter the successful completion of all the major mission objectives, the orbit of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, which was at a height of 100 km from the lunar surface since November 2008, has now been raised to 200 km. The orbit raising manoeuvres were carried out between 0900 and 1000 hours IST on May 19, 2009. The spacecraft in this higher altitude will enable further studies on orbit perturbations, gravitational field variation of the Moon and also enable imaging lunar surface with a wider swath. TeamThe scientists considered instrumental to the success of the Chandrayaan-1 project are:
Chandrayaan-2ISRO is also planning a second version of Chandrayaan named Chandrayaan II. According to ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair, "The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) hopes to land a motorised rover on the Moon in 2012, as a part of its second Chandrayaan mission. The rover will be designed to move on wheels on the lunar surface, pick up samples of soil or rocks, do on-site chemical analysis and send the data to the mother-spacecraft Chandrayaan II, which will be orbiting above. Chandrayaan II will transmit the data to Earth." NASA Lunar OutpostAccording to Ben Bussey, senior staff scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, Chandrayaan's imagery will be used to decide the future Lunar outpost that NASA has recently announced. Bussey told SPACE.com, "India's Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter has a good shot at further identifying possible water ice-laden spots with a US-provided low-power imaging radar." Bussey advised — one of two US experiments on the Indian Moon probe. "The idea is that we find regions of interest with Chandrayaan-1 radar. We would investigate those using all the capabilities of the radar on NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter", Bussey added, "a Moon probe to be launched late in 2008." (The LRO was launched June 18th, 2009). Images and Video Obtained by Chandrayaan-1See also
External links
Text from Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License; additional terms may apply.
Published in July 2009. Click here to read more articles related to aviation and space!
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