Chandrayaan-1

Template:Infobox Spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 (Template:Lang-sa), is an unmanned lunar exploration mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The mission includes a lunar orbiter as well as an impactor. The spacecraft was launched by a modified version of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on 22 October 2008.

The remote sensing satellite weighs 1,308 kilograms (2,884 lb) (590 kilograms (1,301 lb) initial orbit mass and 504 kilograms (1,111 lb) dry mass) and carries high resolution remote sensing equipment for visible, near infrared, 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 water ice.

The ISRO has nominated Mylswamy Annadurai to be the Project Chief. The spacecraft was successfully launched on 22 October 2008 at 6:22 AM Indian Standard Time (00:52 UTC). After the spacecraft reaches its lunar transfer orbit, it will take 5.5 days to reach the Moon. They estimate the cost to be ₹3.86 billion (US$50 million).

The mission includes five ISRO payloads and six payloads from other international space agencies such as NASA and ESA, and the Bulgarian Aerospace Agency, which is being carried free of cost.

Mission objectives

• To launch and orbit a spacecraft in lunar polar orbit and conduct scientific studies.
• To carry out high resolution mapping of topographic features in 3D, distribution of various minerals and elemental chemical species including radioactive nuclides covering the entire lunar surface using a set of remote sensing payloads. The new set of data would help in unraveling mysteries about the origin and evolution of the Solar System in general and that of the Moon in particular, including its composition and mineralogy.
• Realize the mission goal of harnessing the science payloads, lunar craft and the launch vehicle with suitable ground support system including DSN station, integration and testing, launching and achieving lunar orbit of ~100 km, in-orbit operation of experiments, communication/telecommand, telemetry data reception, quick look data and archival for scientific utilization by identified group of scientists.

Specifications

Weight

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

Dimensions

Cuboid in shape of approximately 1.5 m

Communications

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

Power

The spacecraft is mainly powered by its solar array, which includes one solar panel covering a total area of 2.15 X 1.8 m² generating 700W of power, which is stored in a 36 A/h Lithium-ion battery. The spacecraft uses a bipropellant integrated propulsion system to reach lunar orbit as well as orbit and attitude maintenance while orbiting the Moon.

Specific areas of study

• High resolution mineralogical and chemical imaging of permanently shadowed north and south polar regions.
• Search for surface or sub-surface water-ice on the Moon, specially at lunar poles.
• Identification of chemical end members of lunar high land rocks.
• Chemical stratigraphy of lunar crust by remote sensing of central upland of large lunar craters, South Pole Aitken Region (SPAR) etc., where interior material may be expected.
• To map the height variation of the lunar surface features along the satellite track.
• Observation of X-ray spectrum greater than 10 keV and stereographic coverage of most of the Moon's surface with 5m resolution
• To provide new insights in understanding the Moon's origin and evolution.

Chandrayaan 1

The scientific payload has a total mass of 90 kg and contains six Indian instruments and six foreign instruments.

• The Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC) has 5 m resolution and a 40 km swath in the panchromatic band and will be used to produce a high-resolution map of the Moon.

• The Hyper Spectral Imager (HySI) will perform mineralogical mapping in the 400-900 nm band with a spectral resolution of 15 nm and a spatial resolution of 80 m.

• The Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI) will determine the surface topography.

• An X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (C1XS) covering 1- 10 keV with a ground resolution of 25 km and a Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) to detect solar flux in the 1–10 keV range. C1XS will be used to map the abundance of Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, and Fe at the surface, and will monitor the solar flux. This payload is a collaboration between Rutherford Appleton laboratory, U.K, ESA and ISRO.

• A High Energy X-ray/gamma ray spectrometer (HEX) for 30- 200 keV measurements with ground resolution of 40 km, the HEX will measure U, Th, ²¹⁰Pb, ²²²Rn degassing, and other radioactive elements

• Moon Impact probe(MIP) developed by the ISRO, is a small satellite that will be carried by Chandrayaan-1 and will be ejected once it reaches 100 km orbit around Moon, to impact on the Moon. MIP carries three more instruments, namely, a high resolution mass spectrometer, an S-Band altimeter and a video camera. The MIP also carries with it a picture of the Indian flag, it's presence marking as only the fourth nation to place a flag on the Moon after Russia, United States and Japan.

• Among foreign payloads, The Sub-keV Atom Reflecting Analyzer (SARA) from the ESA will map composition using low energy neutral atoms sputtered from the surface.

• The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) from Brown University and JPL (funded by NASA) is an imaging spectrometer designed to map the surface mineral composition.

• A near infrared spectrometer (SIR-2) from ESA, built at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Polish Academy of Science and University of Bergen, will also map the mineral composition using an infrared grating spectrometer. The instrument will be similar to that of the Smart-1 SIR.

• S-band miniSAR, designed, built and tested for NASA by a large team that includes the Naval Air Warfare Center, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman; it is the active SAR system to search for lunar polar ice. The instrument will transmit right polarized radiation with a frequency of 2.5 GHz and will monitor the scattered left and right polarized radiation. The Fresnel reflectivity and the circular polarization ratio (CPR) are the key parameters deduced from these measurements. Ice shows the Coherent Backscatter Opposition Effect which results in an enhancement of reflections and CPR, so that water content of the Moon polar region can be estimated.

• Radiation Dose Monitor (RADOM-7) from Bulgaria is to map the radiation environment around the Moon.

Chandrayaan II

The ISRO 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 2010 or 2011, 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 in situ 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."

On November 12, 2007, representatives of the Russian Federal Space Agency and ISRO signed an agreement for the two agencies to work together on the Chandrayaan II project.

Chandrayaan II will consist of the spacecraft itself and a landing platform with the Moon rover. The platform with the rover will detach from the orbiter after the spacecraft reaches its orbit above the Moon, and land on lunar soil. Then the rover will roll out of the platform. Mylswamy Annadurai, Project Director, Chandrayaan I, said: "Chandrayaan II will carry a semi-hard or soft-landing system. A motorised rover will be released on the Moon's surface from the lander. The location for the lander will be identified using Chandrayaan I data."

The rover will weigh between 30 kg and 100 kg, depending on whether it is to do a semi-hard landing or soft landing. The rover will have an operating life-span of one month. It will run predominantly on solar power.

NASA Lunar Outpost

According 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 is now scheduled for launch 24 April 2009).

See also

• Exploration of the Moon
• List of current and future lunar missions
• Moon

References

Robot for India's Moon mission

B. H. Foing (2004). "The case for the first Indian robotic mission to the Moon" (PDF). Current Science. 87: 1061–1065.

External links

• Official Homepage of Chandrayaan-1
• Chandrayaan Mission's Video
• Chandrayaan-1 Mission Profile by NASA's Solar System Exploration
• Chandrayaan-1 Announcement of Opportunity and home page from ISRO
• India’s First Mission To Moon: Chandrayaan1
• Video Overview of Chandrayaan mission
• European Space Agency to cooperate with India's first lunar mission
• NSSDC Chandrayaan-1 page
• M3 fact sheet
• SPACE.com: U.S. radar on Chandrayaan-1?

India's Moon Yatra: NDTV.com special series on India's landmark journey to the Moon. [1]
Chandrayaan-II – ISRO plans Moon rover

• SPACE.COM Moonbase: In the Dark On Lunar Ice
• The case for Chandrayaan
• Chandrayaan News and Forum
• Chandrayaan Animation by Thejes on YouTube
• Download High Resolution Chandrayaan Animation by Thejes
• C1XS X-ray Spectrometer Instrument
• Link to C1XS/Chandrayaan-1 Animation produced by Doug Ellison
• India, Nasa tie up for Chandrayaan
• India to Reach for the Moon Next Month Oct 2008