What is Chandrayaan?
Rising sun of 22nd October 2009 brought a shining ray for the Indian space research program conducted by ISRO (Indian space research organization). On this fortunate day the land of spirituality, India included itself in the 4 proud countries of the world who have reached to the moon.
The mission was named as chandrayaan-1 and the destination was satellite Moon. Chandrayaan-1 is actually a mission with vision of exploration of Moon. It is dictated by Indian national agency for space, ISRO. Under the mission a space craft launched at 6.22 a.m (IST) on 22nd October of 2008 from the Satish Dhwan Space Center situated in Sriharikota of Andhra Pradesh. Chandrayaan is a word derived from language Sanskrit and it simply means “moon-vehicle.” The weight of the space-craft is 1,308 kilograms and it carries remote sensing devices with high resolution for near infrared, visible, hard and soft frequencies of X-ray.
In total period of two years this space craft will survey the surface of the Moon and hence generate a 3-D topography and also plot a full-flashed map of the chemical characteristics shown by the surface. The polar regions of the moon will be in special interest of mission because there is a possibility of finding ice on the Moon. According to schedule of ISRO once after reaching in the lunar transfer orbit the space craft is going to take 5.5 days before touching the moon surface.
Mr. Mylswamy Annadurai and Mr. S. K. Shivkumar are the two major personals of the mission Chandrayaan-1. The cost of the mission is estimated as Rs. 3.86 billion. The craft carries 5 payloads from the ISRO and 6 from other space associations like NASA, BAA and ESA.
Objectives of the mission
The objectives of the mission include-
• Conducting scientific studies on lunar polar orbit and surface.
• Mapping of 3-D topography and estimating the distribution of different chemical species (radioactive nuclides) and elements which are covering the surface of moon by using various remote sensing equipments. The data generated from this study will help in solving the mystery of solar system.
• Testing of new sophisticated payloads, their analysis abilities and their integration with the earth stations. Preparing ISRO for manned mission to moon.
The payloads of chandrayan-1 are 12 in no and their total weight is 90 Kg. the payloads are –
• TMC i.e. Terrain Mapping Camera, it is a CCD with resolution of 5 m, it is going to give a specified resolution of moon map.
• HySI i.e. Hyper Spectral Imager used for mineralogical mapping.
• LLRI i.e. Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument for surface topography determination.
• C1XS an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer for detection of solar-flux.
• HEX i.e. spectrometer -High Energy X/gamma ray for the detection of radioactive substances.
• MIP i.e. Moon Impact Probe, this device is fully developed in ISRO, this device is actually a small satellite which is equipped with 3 major instruments, MAS , a camera and S-band altimeter. It also contains an Indian Flag with it.
• Other major payloads are Sub-keV Atom Reflecting Analyser named as SARA, Moon Mineralogy Mapper, and near-infrared spectrometer by ESA and RADOM-7 developed by BAS.
ISRO’s further plan is to launch second version of the successful chandrayaan-1 under the name of chandrayaan-2. ISRO is planning to touch moon surface again in 2010 with a motorized rover by mans of chandrayaan-2. this rover is planned to move on moon’s surface with wheels and collect samples of rocks and some soil. These samples will be then tested on the moon itself and data will be provided by sophisticated rover to the chandrayaan-2, which will then transmit the whole data to the station present on planet earth.
Reactions on mission Chandrayaan
The mission is encouraged by leaders and scientists through out the world. Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Mr. Michael Griffin, administrator at NASA congratulated ISRO for this great achievement.