India’s maiden moon mission Chandrayaan-I has reached a major milestone with scientists completing the integration of all instruments onto the spacecraft. The aim is to launch it by September 19.
Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) last week completed the integration of 11 instruments – six indigenous and 5 under international cooperation – onto the spacecraft – onto the spacecraft, which is no bigger than a typical office cubicle.
“We are carrying out detailed integrated tests to ensure that all systems match our expectations and to record the spacecraft level data for future references,” Mylswamy Annadurai, Project Director of Chandrayaan-I, told PTI.
“The tests are expected to last another four weeks after which the spacecraft’s ability to handle the extreme thermal and vacuum environment of lunar orbit will be gauged. These assessments will be followed by vibration and acoustic tests. The spacecraft needs to be shifted to the launch-pad at least four weeks prior to the launch date to allow scientists and engineers to carry out necessary checks on the launch vehicle,” he said.
Chandrayaan-I will be launched atop a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), India’s workhorse rocket with a streak of nine consecutive flawless missions.
ISRO has packed the spacecraft with six instruments, including a high-resolution stereo camera capable of imaging objects about 16 feet in diameter.
It will carry near-infrared and X-ray spectrometers to determine the altitude of the lunar craft for spatial coverage of various instruments. These payloads will help researchers ascertain the composition and topography of the lunar-surface.
Indian engineers have built a 64-pound impactor that will be dropped from the orbiting spacecraft for a suicidal nosedive into the moon.
The probe will relay video imagery, altitude information and spectral data back to the earth through the mother ship, which will be in a lunar orbit 100 km away.
Delivery of five international instruments began last August. NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper was flown to India from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
Nicknamed M3, the 15-pound imaging spectrometer will map the moon’s natural resources through visible and near-infrared wavelengths at higher resolutions than any instrument before.
NASA officials hope the device will help create mineral maps to find science-rich landing sites for future missions, possibly even including human expeditions. The M3 will also look for direct evidence of pockets of ice hidden inside craters near the lunar poles.
Scientists believe there are frozen water deposits deep within the eternally dark craters due to high concentration of hydrogen found there on previous missions. – PTI
Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, June 16, 2008.
Grateful thanks to PTI and The Hindu.
Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) last week completed the integration of 11 instruments – six indigenous and 5 under international cooperation – onto the spacecraft – onto the spacecraft, which is no bigger than a typical office cubicle.
“We are carrying out detailed integrated tests to ensure that all systems match our expectations and to record the spacecraft level data for future references,” Mylswamy Annadurai, Project Director of Chandrayaan-I, told PTI.
“The tests are expected to last another four weeks after which the spacecraft’s ability to handle the extreme thermal and vacuum environment of lunar orbit will be gauged. These assessments will be followed by vibration and acoustic tests. The spacecraft needs to be shifted to the launch-pad at least four weeks prior to the launch date to allow scientists and engineers to carry out necessary checks on the launch vehicle,” he said.
Chandrayaan-I will be launched atop a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), India’s workhorse rocket with a streak of nine consecutive flawless missions.
ISRO has packed the spacecraft with six instruments, including a high-resolution stereo camera capable of imaging objects about 16 feet in diameter.
It will carry near-infrared and X-ray spectrometers to determine the altitude of the lunar craft for spatial coverage of various instruments. These payloads will help researchers ascertain the composition and topography of the lunar-surface.
Indian engineers have built a 64-pound impactor that will be dropped from the orbiting spacecraft for a suicidal nosedive into the moon.
The probe will relay video imagery, altitude information and spectral data back to the earth through the mother ship, which will be in a lunar orbit 100 km away.
Delivery of five international instruments began last August. NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper was flown to India from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
Nicknamed M3, the 15-pound imaging spectrometer will map the moon’s natural resources through visible and near-infrared wavelengths at higher resolutions than any instrument before.
NASA officials hope the device will help create mineral maps to find science-rich landing sites for future missions, possibly even including human expeditions. The M3 will also look for direct evidence of pockets of ice hidden inside craters near the lunar poles.
Scientists believe there are frozen water deposits deep within the eternally dark craters due to high concentration of hydrogen found there on previous missions. – PTI
Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, June 16, 2008.
Grateful thanks to PTI and The Hindu.
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