CHANDRAYAAN-1
Chandrayaan-1 was the most awaited mission of India which came to reality on 22 October 2008 at 6.22 am with the help of PSLV-XL C11 Rocket. India was to
have followed the league of exclusive Club with the launch of India’s Moon Mission Chandrayaan-1. The other members of this elite club are
the US, Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and China. The launch was
successful and on November 8, 2008, it also entered into lunar orbit
successfully. But unfortunately, information came through ISRO that in less
than nine months India's first lunar satellite Chandrayaan star sensor failed.
And it stunned all the scientists.
The Indian Space Research Organization
launched the spacecraft by a modified version of the PSLV from Satish Dhawan
Space Centre located in the Sriharikota district in Andhra Pradesh. The mission
could have proved a major boost to India's Space Programme over a two year
period. The satellite was intended to survey the lunar surface. The survey
would have produced a complete map of its chemical characteristics and
3-dimensional topography.
Chandrayaan-1, the lunar mission was called
off on August 30, 2009, when it's orbiter lost radio contact with the mission control station.
The control was supposed to have been a result of technical glitch because of the burst of sunspot activity.
The mission which would have put India in
elite club shattered India's ambition of taking the first key strike towards
landing an unmanned moon satellite with Rover in 2012 but its CHANDRAYAAN-2 mission sends in 2019. However, the moon impact
probe was separated from the orbiting Chandrayaan-1 at the scheduled time and
impacted the lunar south pole. How it made India the fourth nation to unfurl
the flag on the Moon. It is revealed that the ISRO miscalculated temperature at
100 km above the Moon surface. The spacecraft, when put in the 100 km orbit, were
exposed to excessive radiation from the Sun.
In fact, only a few days after
launch on November 8, 2008 problems in terms of thermal cycling, as well as
radiation, began. The scientists were forced to deactivate some payload. In the
second week of May 2009, Back-up sensors too failed. Finally on August 29
communications with the spacecraft snapped and ISRO Chairman acknowledged that
heat-related problems were not anticipated
CHANDRAYAAN-1 FINDINGS
Despite the failure of the star sensors
Chandrayaan-1 is said to have transmitted a large volume of data including
70.000 images of the Moon. If one goes by the statement of the ISRO Chief 95
percent of the objectives of the launching of the mission had been
accomplished. According to ISRO scientists, water-related data received from
NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper was supplemented by observations of the ISRO payloads.
In the very near future, NASA will try to detect water on the Moon by deliberately
crashing a large spacecraft on to the lunar space. However, all the instrument
that smashes itself on to the Moon can only see the very uppermost layer of the
soil. There is no lake or puddle of water on the lunar surface.
If the scientists
believe that there is water on the surface of the Moon, it is caused by the
hydrogen ions from the Sun. The hydrogen ions are carried by the solar wind to
the Moon. Its interaction with oxygen-rich minerals in lunar soil produces water. Still, water is a key resource for exploration. It is essential for life support
and for rocket fuel. It will help in establishing a green habitat as a
permanent settlement with a view to carrying on exploration.
CHANDRAYAAN-2
Now the ISRO sends its Chandrayaan-2 consisting of the spacecraft and landing platform with the Moon rover. The
platform with the Moon rover will ditch itself and land on the lunar surface. A
motorized rover (Pragyan) will be released on the Moon surface from the lander (Vikram). The
second mission is expected to be launched soon.
ISRO for development of
Chandrayaan-2 Lander and Rover for the new findings.
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