ISRO successfully launched its first unmanned
moon mission, Chandrayaan-1,
mounted on PSLVC11 at 0622 hrs IST on October 22,
2008. The spacecraft was placed into lunar orbit and will survey the surface of
the moon in greater detail than ever before and attempt to locate resources. As
per the agreement between ISRO and NASA, two NASA instruments
are also part of the Chandrayaan
mission. Chandrayaan-1 is the first spacecraft mission of ISRO beyond Earth
orbit. Chandrayaan-1 will be followed by Chandrayaan-2 which features a lander
and a rover. India and Russia will jointly participate in this project.
INTRODUCTION:
The Indian Space Research Organization (Bhāratīya
Antariksh Anusandhān Sangaṭn) or ISROis India's national space agency. With its headquarters in Bangalore, ISRO employs approximately
20,000 people, with a budget of around Rs. 65 billion. Its mandate is the
development of technologies related to space and their application to India's
development. The current Chairman of ISRO is G. Madhavan Nair. In addition to domestic
payloads, it offers international launch services.
Moon: Our Nearest Celestial Neighbour
Moon is the most prominent object in the night sky.
From time immemorial, moon is familiar to humans. Moon is the nearest celestial
body to Earth and lies at a distance of about 384,000 km from here. And, Moon
is the only natural satellite of Earth. It travels round Earth once in 27.3
days and takes the same time to spin around its own axis. Thus, one hemisphere
of the moon ('the farside') is not visible to us.
In terms of diameter, moon is one fourth the size of Earth and its mass is 1/81 of Earth. Gravity on the surface of the moon is only one sixth of that on Earth.
In terms of diameter, moon is one fourth the size of Earth and its mass is 1/81 of Earth. Gravity on the surface of the moon is only one sixth of that on Earth.
Parameter
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Earth
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Moon
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Diameter
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12,742km
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3,474km
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Mass
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5.9x1024kg
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7.475x1022kg
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Volume
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1.08
3206x1021m3
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2.199X1019m3
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Density
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5.52g/cm3
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3.34g/cm3
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Surface
Gravity
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1g
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0.166g
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Like
Earth, the moon too is a world with mountains, plateaus, plains, lowlands, and
of course, craters. But, unlike Earth, the moon does not have an atmosphere.
Thus, liquid water cannot exist on the moon. But, results from the recent
unmanned spacecraft missions have raised the possibility of what appears to be
the presence of water ice in the lunar polar regions. Formation and evolution
of our moon are of importance in understanding the history of our solar system.
Moon: In Mythology and Literature
Similar to many other ancient civilizations, the
moon finds a prominent place in Indian mythology too. In ancient Indian
literature, the moon is considered to be god and is symbolised by Soma. Many
poets of India, including the famous ancient Sanskrit poet Kalidasa, have
chosen the moon as the subject of their poems. The moon, especially the full
moon, has been treated as an object of beauty and compared with beautiful things
or people. In one of his verses, Kalidasa requests his patron king Bhojaraja to
provide him with a sumptuous meal that includes curds made from buffalo milk resembling
moonlight during the post monsoon season.
A depiction of Indian moon god Chandra
Similarly,
for over 2000 years, various science fiction writers from the second century AD
Greek writer Lucien to the 19th century science fiction writer Jules Verne have
treated the moon as the target of their exploring heroes.
Moon: Exploration Begins in the Space Age
Though
the moon is familiar to humans since time immemorial, they were able to clearly
see and appreciate the surface features of the moon only four centuries ago
following the invention of the telescope. After the dawn of the space age in
October 1957, moon became the prime target of exploration partly due to its
proximity to Earth.
In September 1959, the Soviet Luna 2 hit the lunar
surface while Luna 3 took the photographs of the far side of the Moon and
transmitted them to Earth. In 1966, Luna 9 gently landed on the lunar surface.
In the late 60s and early 70s, Soviet spacecraft brought back small soil and
rock samples from the moon and landed Lunakhod-1 and 2 robotic vehicles on the
lunar surface. Also during the
1960s, unmanned American Ranger, Surveyor and Lunar Orbiter spacecraft
conducted detailed exploration of the moon.
This was followed by successful human landing on the moon in Apollo spacecraft
during 1969-72.
Ranger
Surveyor Man on
the moon
Luna
2
Luna 9 Lunar Orbiter
Luna
16
Lunakhod 1
Moon: Still Unanswered Questions
For example, there is no unanimous agreement in
the scientific community about the origin and evolution of the moon.
Additionally, mineralogy of the moon is yet to be understood in much finer
detail. Similarly, the presence of Helium-3, said to be a relatively clean
fuel for the future nuclear fusion reactors, is yet to be quantified on the
Moon. And, the debate over the presence of water in the permanently shadowed
regions of the moon's polar areas is not yet settled.
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Moon’s
Origin
Mineralogy
Helium-3
Moon’s Polar
region
region
Thus, from the point of view of human
intellectual quest as well as in the context of the future of humanity,
exploration of the moon is very important.
In the past few years, there has been a
renaissance with regard to lunar exploration. Many countries and international
space agencies, including the European Space Agency (ESA), Japan, China, the US
and Russia have undertaken or in the process of undertaking unmanned
exploratory missions to the moon. These missions intend to seek answers to some
of the fundamental questions that concern the moon. India's Chandrayaan-1 is an
integral part of that renewed interest of the international scientific
community about the moon.
India in Space
Today,
India is one of the very few countries that have significant achievements to
their credit in the arena of space. The Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO) has designed, developed and built a variety of satellites. And, it has
successfully launched many of them into their intended orbits. More
importantly, the country has used its satellites for the rapid expansion of its
national infrastructure including telecommunications, TV broadcasting, weather
monitoring, education, public health, agriculture and rural development. More
recently, India has provided many space-based services including launch
services to foreign customers on a competitive basis. With ample experience and
many successes in Earth orbit, ISRO has now taken up Chandrayaan-1, its first
bold step beyond Earth orbit into deep space.
Chandrayaan-1: The Goals
The
primary objectives of Chandrayaan-1 are:
1. To expand scientific knowledge about the moon 2. To upgrade India's technological capability 3. To provide challenging opportunities for planetary research to the younger generation of Indian scientists |
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Chandrayaan-1
aims to achieve these well defined objectives through high resolution remote
sensing of the moon in the visible, near infrared, microwave and X-ray
regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. With this, preparation of a
3-dimensional atlas of the lunar surface and chemical mapping of entire lunar
surface is envisaged.
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Chandrayaan-1: The Payloads
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1. Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC): The aim
of this instrument is to completely map the topography of the moon. The
camera works in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum and
captures black and white stereo images. It can image a strip of lunar surface
which is 20 km wide and resolution of this CCD camera is 5 m. Such high
resolution imaging helps in better understanding of the lunar evolution
process as well as in the detailed study of the regions of scientific
interest. When used in conjunction with data from Lunar Laser Ranging
Instrument (LLRI), it can help in better understanding of the lunar gravitational
field as well. TMC is built by ISRO's Space Applications Centre (SAC) of
Ahmedabad.
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2. Hyperspectral Imager (HySI): This CCD
camera is designed to obtain the spectroscopic data for mapping of minerals
on the surface of the moon as well as for understanding the mineralogical
composition of the moon's interior. Operating in the visible and near
infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum, it will image a strip of
lunar surface which is 20 km wide with a resolution of 80 m. It will split
the incident radiation into 64 contiguous bands of 15 nanometer (nm) width.
HySI will help in improving the already available information on mineral
composition of the lunar surface. HySI is also built by SAC.
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3. Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI):
This instrument aims to provide necessary data for determining the accurate
altitude of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft above the lunar surface.It also helps in
determining the global topographical field of the Moon as well as in
generating an improved model for the lunar gravity field. Data from LLRI will
enable understanding of the internal structure of the moon and the way large
surface features of the moon have changed with time. The infrared laser
source used for LLRI is Nd-YAG laser wherein Neodimium atoms are doped into a
Yittrium Aluminium Garnet crystal. The wavelength of the light emitted by
LLRI is 1064 nm. LLRI is built by ISRO's Laboratory for Electro Optic Systems
(LEOS) of Bangalore.
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4. High Energy X-ray Spectrometer (HEX):
This is the first planetary experiment to carry out spectral studies at 'hard'
X-ray energies using good energy resolution detectors. HEX is designed to help
explore the possibility of identifying polar regions covered by thick water-ice
deposits as well as in identifying regions of high Uranium and Thorium
concentrations. Knowledge of the chemical composition of the various solar
system objects such as planets, satellites and asteroids provides important
clues towards understanding their origin and evolution. HEX uses Cadmium Zinc
Telluride (CZT) detectors and is designed to detect hard X-rays in the energy
range of 20 kilo electron Volts (keV) to about 250 keV. HEX is built jointly by
Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) of Ahmedabad and ISRO Satellite Centre of Bangalore.
5. Moon
Impact Probe (MIP): The primary objective of MIP is to demonstrate the
technologies required for landing a probe at the desired location on the
moon. Through this probe, it is also intended to qualify some of the
technologies related to future soft landing missions. This apart, scientific
exploration of the moon at close distance is also intended using MIP.
The 29 kg Moon Impact Probe consists of a C-band
Radar Altimeter for continuous measurement of altitude of the Probe above
lunar surface and to qualify technologies for future landing missions, a
Video Imaging System for acquiring images of the surface of moon from the
descending probe and a Mass Spectrometer for measuring the constituents of
extremely thin lunar atmosphere during its 20 minute descent to the lunar
surface. MIP is developed by Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre of
Thiruvananthapuram.
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Of the
six payloads from abroad in Chandrayaan-1, three are from the European Space
Agency (ESA). They are:
1. Chandrayaan-1 Imaging X-ray Spectrometer
(C1XS): This instrument intends to carry out high quality mapping of the
moon using X-ray fluorescence technique for measuring elemental abundance of
Magnesium, Aluminium, Silicon, Iron and Titanium distributed over the surface
of the moon. This will help in finding answers to key questions about the
origin and evolution of the moon. The instrument is sensitive to X-rays in
the energy range of 0.5—10 keV. C1XS is jointly developed by Rutherford
Appleton Laboratory of England and ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore.
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2. Smart Near Infrared Spectrometer (SIR-2):
This instrument aims to study the lunar surface to explore the mineral
resources, the formation of its surface features, the way different layers of
the moon's crust lie over one another and the way materials are altered in
space. It has the ability to detect and record near Infrared radiation coming
from the moon. Since this is the radiation band through which various
minerals and ices reveal their existence, SIR-2 is well suited for making an
inventory of various minerals on the lunar surface. It can detect the
radiation in the range of 0.93-2.4 micron. SIR-2 is developed by Max Plank
Institute of Germany.
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3. Sub keV Atom Reflecting Analyser (SARA):
The aim of this instrument is to study the surface composition of the moon,
the way in which moon's surface reacts with solar wind, the way in which
surface materials on the surface of the moon change and the magnetic
anomalies associated with the surface of the moon. SARA will be sensitive to
neutral atoms that have escaped from the surface of the moon and having
energy in the range of 10 eV—2 keV (kilo-electron-Volt). The instrument has
been developed by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics and Space Physics
Laboratory (SPL) of ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre built its processing
electronics.
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The
Bulgarian Payload onboard Chandrayaan-1 is:
4. Radiation Dose Monitor (RADOM): This
instrument aims to qualitatively and quantitatively characterise the radiation
environment in space around the moon’s vicinity. It will help study the
radiation dose map of space near the moon at various latitudes and altitudes.
Besides, the instrument helps in investigating whether the space near the moon
shields it from cosmic rays coming from distant cosmic sources as well as those
from the sun. Such studies and investigations will be helpful in the important
task of finding out the shielding requirements of future manned missions to the
moon. RADOM is developed by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
The
NASA instruments carried by Chandrayaan-1 are:
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5. Mini Syntheic Aperture Radar (MiniSAR):
This is one of the two scientific instruments of the United States flown in
Chandrayaan-1 mission. MiniSAR is from Johns Hopkins University's Applied
Physics Laboratory and Naval Air Warfare Centre, USA through NASA. Working in
S-band, MiniSAR is mainly intended for the important task of detecting water
ice in the permanently shadowed regions of the Lunar poles up to a depth of a
few meters. It can optimally distinguish water ice from the dry lunar
surface. MiniSAR has a spatial resolution of about 75 metres.
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6. Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3): This is
an imaging spectrometer which is intended to assess and map lunar mineral
resources at high spatial and spectral resolution to support planning for
future targeted missions. It will help in characterising and mapping lunar
minerals in the context of the moon's early geological evolution. M3 is from
Brown University and Jet Propulsion Laboratory through NASA. M3 may also help
in identifying water ice in the lunar polar areas. Its operating range is 0.7
to 3 micrometre. The instrument has a spatial resolution of 70 m.
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The Chandrayaan-1: The Spacecraft
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Description: Spacecraft for lunar mission is
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Cuboid
in shape of approximately 1.5 m side.
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Weighing
1380 kg at launch and 675 kg at lunar orbit.
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Accommodates
eleven science payloads.
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3-axis
stabilized spacecraft using two star sensors, gyros and four reaction wheels.
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The
power generation would be through a canted single-sided solar
array to provide required power during all phases of the mission.
This deployable solar array consisting of a single panel generates 750W of
peak power. Solar array along with yoke would be stowed on the south deck of
the spacecraft in the launch phase. During eclipse, spacecraft will be
powered by Lithium ion (Li-Ion) batteries.
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After
deployment, the solar panel plane is canted by 30º to the spacecraft pitch
axis.
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The
spacecraft employs a X-band, 0.7m diameter parabolic antenna for payload data
transmission. The antenna employs a dual gimbal mechanism to track the earth
station when the spacecraft is in lunar orbit.
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The
spacecraft uses a bipropellant integrated propulsion system to reach lunar
orbit as well as orbit and attitude maintenance while orbiting the Moon.
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The
propulsion system carries required propellant for a mission life of 2 years,
with adequate margin.
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The
Telemetry, Tracking & Command (TTC) communication is in S-band frequency.
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The
scientific payload data transmission is in X-band frequency.
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The
spacecraft has three Solid State Recorders (SSRs) Onboard to record data from
various payloads.
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Chandrayaan-1: The Journey
The
launch of Chandrayaan-1 takes place from the Second Launch Pad at Satish
Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR, Sriharikota in the Nellore district of Andhra
Pradesh state. Sriharikota is situated at a distance of about 80 km to the
North of Chennai.
Chandrayaan-1
spacecraft begins its journey from earth onboard India's Polar Satellite
Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C11) and first will reach a highly elliptical Initial
Orbit (IO). In the Initial Orbit, the perigee (nearest point to earth) is
about 250 km and apogee (farthest point from the earth) is about 23,000 km.
After circling
the Earth in its Initial Orbit for a while, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft is taken
into two more elliptical orbits whose apogees lie still higher at 37,000 km
and 73,000 km respectively. This is done at opportune moments by firing the
spacecraft's Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) when the spacecraft is near perigee.
Subsequently,
LAM is fired again to take Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft to an extremely high
elliptical orbit whose apogee lies at about 387,000 km.
In this
orbit, the spacecraft makes one complete revolution around the Earth in about
11 days. During its second revolution around the Earth in this orbit, the
spacecraft will approach the Moon's North pole at a safe distance of about a
few hundred kilometers since the Moon would have arrived there in its journey
round the Earth.
Once
the Chandrayaan-1 reaches the vicinity of the Moon, the spacecraft is
oriented in a particular way and its LAM is again fired. This slows down the
spacecraft sufficiently to enable the gravity of the moon to capture it into
an elliptical orbit.
Following
this, the height of the spacecraft's orbit around the moon is reduced in
steps. After a careful and detailed observation of perturbations in its
intermediate orbits around the moon, the height of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft's
orbit will be finally lowered to its intended 100 km height from the lunar
surface.
Later,
the Moon Impact Probe will be ejected from Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft at the
earliest opportunity to hit the lunar surface in a chosen area. Following
this, cameras and other scientific instruments are turned ON and thoroughly
tested. This leads to the operational phase of the mission. This phase lasts
about two years during which Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft explores the lunar
surface with its array of instruments that includes cameras, spectrometers
and SAR.
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PSLV-C11: The Launcher
PSOM-XLs surrounding
the first stage |
Nozzle End segment
of the first stage |
Second
Stage
with its Vikas engine |
PSLV-C11, chosen to launch Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft,
is an uprated version of ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle standard
configuration. Weighing 316 tonnes at lift-off, the vehicle uses larger
strap-on motors (PSOM-XL) to achieve higher payload capability.
PSLV is the trusted workhorse launch Vehicle of
ISRO. During 1993-2008 period, PSLV had twelve consecutively successful
launches carrying satellites to Sun Synchronous, Low Earth and Geosynchronous
Transfer Orbits. Now, its fourteenth flight is being used for launching
Chandrayaan-1 to moon.
PSLV has repeatedly proved its reliability and
versatility by launching 29 satellites into a variety of orbits. Of these,
ten remote sensing satellites of India, an Indian satellite for amateur radio
communications, a recoverable Space Capsule (SRE-1) and fourteen satellites
from abroad were put into polar Sun Synchronous Orbits (SSO) of 550-820 km heights.
Hoisting thethird & fourth stages
Besides, PSLV has launched two satellites from
abroad into Low Earth Orbits of low or medium inclinations. This apart, PSLV
has launched KALPANA-1, a weather satellite of India, into Geosynchronous
Transfer Orbit (GTO).
PSLV-C11vehicle assembled upto fourth stage at Vehicle Assembly Building
Chandrayaan-1
in PSLV-C11envelope |
PSLV-C11
Flight Profile
PSLV was initially designed by ISRO to place 1,000
kg class Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites into 900 km polar
SunSynchronous Orbits. Since the first successful flight in October 1994, the
capability of PSLV was successively enhanced from 850 kg to 1,600 kg. In its
ninth flight on May 5, 2005 from the Second Launch Pad (SLP), PSLV launched
ISRO's remote sensing satellite,1,560 kg CARTOSAT-1 and the 42 kg Amateur Radio
satellite, HAMSAT, into a 620 km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit. The improvement
in the capability over successive flights has been achieved through several
means. They include increased propellant loading in the stage motors, employing
composite material for the satellite mounting structure and changing the
sequence of firing of the strap-on motors.
PSLV-C11 is 44.4 metre tall and has four stages using
solid and liquid propulsion systems alternately. The first stage, carrying 138
tonne of propellant, is one of the largest solid propellant boosters in the
world. Six solid propellant strap-on motors (PSOM-XL), each carrying twelve
tonne of solid propellant, are strapped on to the first stage. The second stage
carries 41.5 tonne of liquid propellant. The third
stage uses 7.6 tonne of solid propellant and the fourth has a twin engine
configuration with 2.5 tonne of liquid propellant.
The 3.2 metre diameter metallic bulbous payload
fairing protects the satellites and it is discarded after the vehicle has
cleared dense atmosphere. PSLV employs a large number of auxiliary systems for
stage separation, payload fairing separation and so on. It has sophisticated
systems to control the vehicle and guide it through the predetermined
trajectory. The vehicle performance is monitored through telemetry and
tracking. The main modification in PSLV-C11 compared to its standard
configuration is the use of larger strap-on motors (PSOM-XL) containing more
propellants.
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC),
Thiruvananthapuram, designed and developed PSLV-C11. ISRO Inertial Systems Unit
(IISU) at Thiruvananthapuram developed the inertial systems for the vehicle.
Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), also at Thiruvananthapuram, developed
the liquid propulsion stages for the second and fourth stages of PSLV-C11 as
well as reaction control systems. SDSC SHAR processed the solid motors and
carries out launch operations. ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network
(ISTRAC) provides telemetry, tracking and command support during PSLV-C11's
flight.
The Ground Segment
32m DSN Antenna
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18m Antenna
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During the various phases of its flight,
Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft will send detailed information about its health to
Earth through its transmitter. At the same time, the spacecraft will be ready
to receive radio commands sent from Chandrayaan-1Spacecraft Control Centre
instructing it to perform various tasks. Besides, the spacecraft receives,
modifies and retransmits the radio waves sent by ground antennas in a precise
way. This plays a crucial role in knowing its position and orbit at a
particular instant of time. All these happen at 'S-band' frequencies in the
microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Additionally, as it orbits the Moon, the
spacecraft sends valuable imagery and other scientific information to Earth
through X-band (at a higher frequency compared to S-band), which also lies in
the microwave region.
But, such information is transmitted through
radio at a very low power of a few watts. Thus, radio signals carrying that
precious information become extremely feeble by the time they travel 400,000
km from the Moon and reach the earth.
The Ground Segment of Chandrayaan-1 performs the crucial task of receiving the radio signals sent by spacecraft. It also transmits the radio commands to be sent to the spacecraft during different phases of its mission. Besides, it processes and safe keeps the scientific information sent by Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft.
ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network
(ISTRAC) had a lead role in establishing the Ground Segment facility of
Chandrayaan-1 along with ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC) and Space Applications
Centre (SAC). The Ground Segment of Chandrayaan-1 consists of:
1. Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) 2. Spacecraft Control Centre (SCC) 3. Indian Space Science Data Centre (ISSDC) |
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Mission
Sequence:
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Chandrayaan-1
spacecraft was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR,
Sriharikota by PSLV-XL (PSLV-C11) on 22 October 2008 at 06:22 hrs IST in an
highly elliptical initial orbit (IO) with perigee (nearest point to the
Earth) of 255 km and an apogee (farthest point from the Earth) of 22,860 km,
inclined at an angle of 17.9 deg to the equator. In this initial orbit,
Chandrayaan orbited the Earth once in about six and a half hours.
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Subsequently,
the spacecraft's Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) firing was done on 23 October at
09:00 hrs IST, when the spacecraft was near perigee, to raise the apogee to
37,900 km while the perigee to 305 km. The spacecraft took eleven hours to go
round the Earth once.
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The
orbit was further raised to 336 km x 74,715 km on 25 October at 05:48 hrs
IST. In this orbit, spacecraft took about twenty-five and a half hours to
orbit the Earth once.
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The LAM
was fired again on 26 October at 07:08 hrs IST to take the Chandrayaan-1
spacecraft to extremely high elliptical orbit with apogee 164,600 km and
perigee at 348 km. Chandrayaan-1 took about 73 hours to go round the Earth
once.
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On 29
October, orbit raising was carried out at 07:38 hrs IST to raise the apogee
to 267,000 km and perigee to 465 km. Chandrayaan’s present orbit extends more
than half the way to moon and takes about six days to orbit the Earth.
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On 4
November at 04:56 hrs IST, Chandrayaan entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory
with an apogee of 380,000 km.
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On 8
November at 16:51 hrs IST, the spacecraft’s Liquid engine was fired to reduce
its velocity to insert the spacecraft in the lunar orbit (LOI) and enable
lunar gravity to capture it. As a result, the spacecraft was in an elliptical
orbit with periselene (nearest point to the moon) of 504 km and aposelene
(farthest point from the moon) of 7,502 km.
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The
first orbit reduction manoeuvre was carried out successfully on 9 November at
20:03 hrs IST. Thus the spacecraft was in lunar orbit with 200 km periselene.
The aposelene remains unchanged (i.e 7,502 km).
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After
careful and detailed observation, a series of three orbit reduction
manoeuvres were successfully carried out and the spacecraft’s orbit was
reduced to its intended operational 100 km circular polar orbit on November
12.
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On 14
November at 20:06 hrs IST, the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) was ejected from the
Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft and hard landed on the lunar surface near the South
Polar Region at 20:31 hrs IST after 25 minutes journey. It placed the Indian
tricolour, which was pasted on the sides of MIP on the Moon.
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Currently,
the scientific instruments/payloads are being commissioned sequentially and
exploration of Moon with the array of onboard instruments have begun.
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The Future
Chandrayaan-1
is the first spacecraft mission of ISRO beyond Earth orbit. Chandrayaan-1 will
be followed by Chandrayaan-2 which features a lander and a rover. India and
Russia will jointly participate in this project. However, there may be a
provision to accommodate payloads from other space agencies as happened in
Chandrayaan-1. This apart, studies are being conducted by ISRO on sending
unmanned spacecraft to planet Mars as well as to asteroids and comets. Through
such programmes, ISRO intends to undertake the exploration of space besides its
primary mission of developing and utilising space technology for the overall
development of the country.
REFERENCES
1. www.google.com
2. www.isro.org/chandrayaan/htmls/home.htm
3. www.isro.org/chandrayaan/htmls/mission_sequence.htm
4. www.isro.gov.in 17 nov. 2008
5. www.isro.org/chandrayaan/htmls/spacecraft_description.htm
11 nov. 2008
6. www.isro.org/pslv-c11/brochure/page(1-12).htm
7. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_ Space_Research_organisation 23 nov. 2008
