Chandrayan-1 moon mission

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 26 Dec 2008 23:08

Moon Mapper throws new light sounds like pyroxene similar to earth mantle. wow!~ it was the "Giant Impact hypothesis"~~~

Kailash · Post by **Kailash** » 30 Dec 2008 18:33

New images on their way - http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/00 ... 301121.htm

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 30 Dec 2008 18:47

"They are interested in particularly looking at the terrain data,"

sounds like really interested to know how Indian mil application of such features would be with a meter resolution or lower on Earth.

--
http://deccanherald.com/Content/Dec3020 ... updatenews

“Every second of data recorded takes about two and a half seconds to be transmitted to the ground station,” said Kumar. The latest photograph released is of a lunar impact crater on the far side of the moon.

far side? anyone?

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 31 Dec 2008 01:11

Far side of moon == that hemisphere of moon which is not (never) visible from earth. (First time features on "far side" were photographed by Luna in 1959 ?)

Arun_S · Post by **Arun_S** » 31 Dec 2008 01:33

Chandrayaan's moon impact photos to be released soon

New Delhi (IANS): It is a set of pictures that is among the most anticipated in India - around 3,200 frames tracking the descent of the first-ever Indian-built device to the moon's surface.

But the Indian public may have to wait for some more time to take a peek at that journey.

The images were taken by the 35-kg Moon Impact Probe (MIP) as it hurtled down for nearly 25 minutes after detaching from India's maiden lunar probe Chandrayaan-I and landed on the lunar surface at 8.31 p.m. Nov 14.

That day, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had released two photos of the pockmarked surface taken from MIP. Nothing after that.

According to a key Chandrayaan scientist, it is now a matter of waiting a bit more - though he still could not specify the date.

"While we have released some sample images already, the full set of 3,200 pictures will also be made public after some more time," A.S. Kiran Kumar, deputy director, sensor development area in ISRO's Ahmedabad-based Space Applications Centre, told IANS.

Kumar headed the team which built the Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC), one of India's key payloads on Chandrayaan.

The pictures are currently being analysed at ISRO's Physical Research Laboratory. "We could be releasing it in a couple of months," Kumar said, adding that the last photograph on the set was from a height of two to three kilometres from the surface.

One of the several activities involved in getting the pictures ready for public release is to identify the surface features. "Since the pictures are of very high resolution, the features are not listed on any current moon atlas," he said.

The TMC has meanwhile been mapping the South Pole at a resolution of five metres, through lens capable of capturing images at three angles simultaneously.

Recently, China unveiled a three-dimensional map of the lunar surface with data from its Chang'e-1 mission, while Japan has been frequently releasing imagery from its lunar orbiter, Kaguya, including that of the landing site of the Apollo 17 spacecraft.

But, Kumar insisted, photographs collected by the Indian orbiter would be better due to higher resolution and lower orbit height at 100 km.

"The Chinese camera is three-dimensional but only has a resolution of 200 metres compared to our five-metre resolution. The Japanese one has 10-metre resolution, but they have only stereo doublet - we have a stereo triplet," he said.

By stereo triplet, the senior ISRO scientist referred to TMC's capability to take images from three angles - frontal, nadir and rear views. "The advantage is that no portion (of the surface) will be blocked. Occlusion will not be a problem," he said.

In optics, 'occlusion' refers to the method in which a close object masks or covers an object that is further away.

While Chandrayaan goes around the moon approximately 12 times each day - the camera is operational for two to three orbits.

"We have to balance every activity on the satellite, take note of the operating condition and find the optimal time to transmit to the ground station," Kumar said.

The time slot also gets limited as the camera has to factor in the solar illumination angle, which changes with the orbit of the moon. The scientists have decided to limit the solar angle to 30 degrees on both sides of the equator to take consistently well-lit images.

During the 20-minute photographing in each orbit, TMC captures images over an area 1,700 km long and 20 km wide, which translates into 1.4 km per second.

"Every second of data recorded takes about two and a half seconds to be transmitted to the ground station," said Kumar. The latest photograph released is of a lunar impact crater on the far side of the moon.

The senior ISRO scientist said several images have also been provided to academic institutions for analyses.

NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper payload team has also sought information from TMC. "They are interested in particularly looking at the terrain data," Kumar added.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 31 Dec 2008 04:17

duh.. i had forgotten that, thanks.. btw did fish out this info

Because the near side is partly shielded from the solar wind by the Earth, the far side maria are expected to have the highest concentration of Helium-3 on the surface of the Moon

no wonder the khans are eager to get more data.

Kailash · Post by **Kailash** » 31 Dec 2008 18:56

Can we interpret the results of the data from M3 and other foreign instruments? or does it go to the respective countries for analysis, when they decide how to share with India?

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 31 Dec 2008 19:00

I think ISRO charted on moon mission with a free ride to every nation on the planet.. no insurance scheme as well. Am i right? if so, then its open sharing of information.

Kailash · Post by **Kailash** » 31 Dec 2008 19:42

SaiK wrote:I think ISRO charted on moon mission with a free ride to every nation on the planet.. no insurance scheme as well. Am i right? if so, then its open sharing of information.

That is true. But what we get is raw data from Chandrayaan - can in independently analyze that data from each instrument or would we require help in interpretation from the maker of the instruments? (kind of legend to a map, or dictionary to the language)

Because as I understand, moon may the next battleground (in 4-5 decades) for who gets mining rights on helium-3 mines etc...

Abhijit N · Post by **Abhijit N** » 31 Dec 2008 23:12

It seems improbable that ISRO would have allowed a free ride to instruments like the M3 without getting hands on the "legends/maps" etc to interpret the data...that would be most unfair ! ...helium could sneak right past our noses without we being aware !

disha · Post by **disha** » 01 Jan 2009 04:40

SaiK wrote:I think ISRO charted on moon mission with a free ride to every nation on the planet.. no insurance scheme as well. Am i right? if so, then its open sharing of information.

It is open sharing of information, at the same time it is not a *free* ride. ISRO gets first dibs at the data. That is what stalled the progress for mini-SAR integration, since ISRO wanted to use the data exclusively for first 6 months and then give the data to NASA for analysis. I do not have the URLs but if what I read was right that was quite a chankian move by ISRO.

Arun_S · Post by **Arun_S** » 02 Jan 2009 02:51

disha wrote:
SaiK wrote:I think ISRO charted on moon mission with a free ride to every nation on the planet.. no insurance scheme as well. Am i right? if so, then its open sharing of information.
It is open sharing of information, at the same time it is not a *free* ride. ISRO gets first dibs at the data. That is what stalled the progress for mini-SAR integration, since ISRO wanted to use the data exclusively for first 6 months and then give the data to NASA for analysis. I do not have the URLs but if what I read was right that was quite a chankian move by ISRO.

My recollection is that ISRO will have free access for the first 6 months along with the owner of the *free* ride equipment, thereafter the owner will get upper hand and may at its own sweet will share any more data.

p_saggu · Post by **p_saggu** » 02 Jan 2009 02:58

WRT the Moon Impact Probe's pictures being released so long after its descent. Is it because the MIP was rotating rapidly around its axis even as it hurtled down towards the moon surface. The Video / Picture series that it shot needs to be processed to be seen.
How is it possible to stabilize a camera in zero gravity in such a situation where the MIP is in a uncontrolled descent towards the surface?

John Snow · Post by **John Snow** » 02 Jan 2009 03:06

Arun_S · Post by **Arun_S** » 02 Jan 2009 10:40

p_saggu wrote:How is it possible to stabilize a camera in zero gravity in such a situation where the MIP is in a uncontrolled descent towards the surface?

Least expensive solution is to spin to inertially stabilize the craft orientiation along the axis of impact trajectory. Pic is then reconstructed by rate gyro data and from digital filtering and correlation.

John Snow · Post by **John Snow** » 02 Jan 2009 11:06

If the camera lens is at an angle (like turrets on the Microscope for quick lens change) and the camera is rigid to the body of the MIP then we will have cork screw images as the altitude of the MIP drops.
So we have to literally unwind the cork screw to see it in the right sequence. Am I right Arun gurvu garu?

Arun_S · Post by **Arun_S** » 02 Jan 2009 23:31

Yes saar provided it is mounted off spin axis. The advantage of this is that it maps a much large area at very high resolution, instead of just staring at one point and takign progressively high res pic of that point at far off and close distance.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 04 Jan 2009 16:36

Chandrayaan-I mission life can be extended

Scientists can now extend the duration of India's maiden moon mission Chandrayaan-I beyond its planned two-year
period.

The precise launch and lunar orbit insertion of Chandrayaan-I has given space scientists the leverage to extend the mission life of the spacecraft orbiting the moon at an altitude of 100 km.

"The spacecraft has about 183 kg fuel onboard and we are looking at a two-year plus mission life," S K Shivakumar, Director ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) said at the 96th Indian Science Congress here.

Principal scientists involved in all the 10 experiments onboard the spacecraft are meeting in Bangalore on January 29 to discuss the initial findings of the moon mission.

Orbital manoeuvres need to be carried out on the spacecraft once every 28 days to ensure that it stays in the designated 100 km circular orbit and does not go astray.

"About three kg fuel is used when onboard motors are fired for carrying out the orbital manoeuvre," said Shivakumar, whose team has been monitoring the spacecraft ever since it's launch on October 22 last year.

Chandrayaan-I was launched with an orbital accuracy of five km making India the first country to achieve such a precise maiden mission, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said.

Sai.U · Post by **Sai.U** » 04 Jan 2009 22:38

That's almost 5 years of lifetime. very nice.

183 kgs, 3 kg per orbital manouvre, one manouvre per 28 days
61 orbital corrections
1708 days
4.7 years

vavinash · Post by **vavinash** » 04 Jan 2009 22:47

Wow, India might have 3 sats (CY-1,2,3) orbiting the moon at the same time by 2013.

Arun_S · Post by **Arun_S** » 05 Jan 2009 07:07

Not sure if this has been posted, but this presentation by Shri Annadurai is the best material I have seen on Chandrayan-1.

Chandrayaan-1 and Beyond, LUNAR EXPLORATION EFFORTS By ISRO,
By Shri. M.Annadurai Deviprasad Karnik, Indian Space Research Organisation

Arunkumar · Post by **Arunkumar** » 06 Jan 2009 22:24

Arun_S wrote:Not sure if this has been posted, but this presentation by Shri Annadurai is the best material I have seen on Chandrayan-1.

Chandrayaan-1 and Beyond, LUNAR EXPLORATION EFFORTS By ISRO,
By Shri. M.Annadurai Deviprasad Karnik, Indian Space Research Organisation

Thanks Arun for the presentation. From what one infers from page 39 to page 42 is
1.) Soft landing on moon to be attempted on CY-2.
2.) Moon sample return to be done on CY-2. This means the ISRO lander would soft land, deploy the russian rover, deploy the lander's robotic arm, scoop a sample and launch the canister towards the orbiter. The orbiter would then attempt a reentry with the sample.
Russian cooperation on CY-2 is understandable since they were the first to attempt sample return with Luna-15 in july 1969..
3.) ISRO is thinking on voyager type interplanetry probes.
4.) Rover to be landed on mars.

Abhijit N · Post by **Abhijit N** » 07 Jan 2009 02:08

This means the ISRO lander would soft land, deploy the russian rover, deploy the lander's robotic arm, scoop a sample and launch the canister towards the orbiter. The orbiter would then attempt a reentry with the sample.

I was just wondering about the rendezvous of the canister with the orbiter. Wouldn't that be quite complicated. Well maybe not ...but the canister would have to seal itself at the surface of the moon, restart its rockets in near vacuum after a major trip through space and a possibly not so soft landing..all this still ok. But it would have to enter into the exact orbit of the orbiter and an automated docking has to be carried out since we are still in lunar orbit and where any velocity mismatch could prove disastrous for both craft. Then the combined craft would have to successfully escape moon's orbit and possibly through complicated maneuvers arrive at earth orbit and then oh wait.....the crucial re entry phase is still to go!! and any parachute failures could be curtains!
Aren't we putting too much into 1 mission. I would have thought a rover deployment and video feedback and control would be enough for CY2....but then again we should be pushing the limits and its all been done before I guess..

juvva · Post by **juvva** » 07 Jan 2009 13:19

Abhijit N wrote:
This means the ISRO lander would soft land, deploy the russian rover, deploy the lander's robotic arm, scoop a sample and launch the canister towards the orbiter. The orbiter would then attempt a reentry with the sample.
I was just wondering about the rendezvous of the canister with the orbiter. Wouldn't that be quite complicated. Well maybe not ...but the canister would have to seal itself at the surface of the moon, restart its rockets in near vacuum after a major trip through space and a possibly not so soft landing..all this still ok. But it would have to enter into the exact orbit of the orbiter and an automated docking has to be carried out since we are still in lunar orbit and where any velocity mismatch could prove disastrous for both craft. Then the combined craft would have to successfully escape moon's orbit and possibly through complicated maneuvers arrive at earth orbit and then oh wait.....the crucial re entry phase is still to go!! and any parachute failures could be curtains!
Aren't we putting too much into 1 mission. I would have thought a rover deployment and video feedback and control would be enough for CY2....but then again we should be pushing the limits and its all been done before I guess..

We could derisk some of this - navigating CY1 back to earth, by using the left over fuel at eom. This way we practice the return trip almost for free...

vdutta · Post by **vdutta** » 07 Jan 2009 13:46

new updates on isro's website
http://isro.org/pslv-c11/photos/moon_images.htm

Abhijit N · Post by **Abhijit N** » 07 Jan 2009 23:59

These 2 pics show distinct flow lines of some sort ...

http://isro.org/pslv-c11/photos/imagesf ... 2_ANNO.jpg
http://isro.org/pslv-c11/photos/imagesf ... 1_ANNO.jpg

Maybe molten material flowing after impacts...or WATER from the time when dinosaurs ruled the earth !!

Talking about sample return missions..check this out...Phobos-Grunt mission!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobos-Grunt

The mission may be propelled by controllable electric jet propulsion due to its capability for smooth changing of the propulsion output parameters along the flight trajectory

Time for ISRO to speed up Ion Drive
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_p ... ctrostatic

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 12 Jan 2009 13:40

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pune ... 961580.cms

Nearly 40 years after Nasa's Apollo flights, which put a man on the moon, India's Chandrayaan mission launched on October 22, 2008,
recently did something unique this week it mapped the landing sites of the six Apollo missions on the moon and the process ended on Saturday.

The Apollo flights were launched between July 1969 and December 1972.

This hitherto unknown aspect of the Chandrayaan programme was revealed to TOI on Saturday by a top scientist associated with the Indian moon mission, P Sreekumar, who quit his job in the US to be a part of the Indian moon team. He was among the participants at the inauguration of the International Year of Astronomy programme at the Pune-based Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCCA).

Sreekumar told TOI that that the six Apollo landing sites which were mapped related to those of Apollo 11, 12, 14 15 and 17. The process began on January 7 and ended on January 10. "Our purpose of carrying out this exercise was to validate and confirm the data through global mapping about the moon's surface and rocks which had been obtained by these Apollo flights," he said. It may be recalled that Apollo 11 placed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon, which became historical because they were the first humans to step on the lunar surface.

Nitesh · Post by **Nitesh** » 12 Jan 2009 13:57

from above post

He said that the mapping of the Apollo landing zones were done by six of the 11 scientific payloads on Chandrayaan which included the indigenous Terrain Mapping Camera which was first activated on October 29, 1995,

they can't put the date correctly

k prasad · Post by **k prasad** » 12 Jan 2009 16:38

Acharya wrote:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pune ... 961580.cms

"Our purpose of carrying out this exercise was to validate and confirm the data through global mapping about the moon's surface and rocks which had been obtained by these Apollo flights,"

More like "We wanted to prove that the moon missions weren't faked".

Anyway, a good conspiracy theory always finds ways to fit in new data... goofy no-gooders will find some way to explain away CY's data as well.

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 12 Jan 2009 17:44

"President Clinton in his 2004 autobiography, My Life, states (on page 156): "Just a month before, Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong had left their colleague, Michael Collins, aboard spaceship Columbia and walked on the Moon, beating by five months President Kennedy's goal of putting a man on the Moon before the decade was out. The old carpenter asked me if I really believed it happened. I said sure, I saw it on television. He disagreed; he said that he didn't believe it for a minute, that 'them television fellers' could make things look real that weren't. Back then, I thought he was a crank. During my eight years in Washington, I saw some things on TV that made me wonder if he wasn't ahead of his time."

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 12 Jan 2009 17:46

http://s532.photobucket.com/albums/ee32 ... 14_std.jpg

'...And remember, everything that we tell you on this television set is true. And if you believe anything differently, we will brand you an 'extremist nutcase' and ostracize you from all of your friends.

But, most of all, remember, that we are not controlling your mind, not at all. That's just craziness to even think that, and if you do say that or even hint at that, you will most definitely be characterized as a "paranoid nutcase." '

- The Mind Control Box

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 12 Jan 2009 18:15

KAGUYA AND CHANDRAYAAN
Is the Japanese space agency JAXA sandbagging regarding resolution capability of its Selene (Kaguya) camera? Why would they claim a "world's first super high definition of 10 metres" for the spacecraft's Terrain Camera ( read above), when everyone knows NASA's Lunar Orbiter series in the mid-60s took stills that were also used for realistic 3D lunar surface modelling, of near 1 metre resolution? Are they sandbagging? Do they mean Kaguya's TC actually has a 10 CENTIMETRE res'? Do they already know Apollo was faked ? Knowledge they could easily use politically to lever a trade advantage for themselves with the US. This MSt.M album explores and unravels the JAXA Selene riddle further.....UPDATE; It appears the new Indian moon orbiter, Chandrayaan 1, will be posing an even deeper camera resolution riddle .... more in the sub album.

kobe · Post by **kobe** » 12 Jan 2009 20:13

alas even the senior members don't understand to stick to THE TOPIC!

this is CY-1 moon mission forum, the hell with kaguya and apollo,

kindly show some respect to other members and don't post unrelated rubbish on a forum that is india's first mission to the moon

such behavior is an insult to all the work that goes on CY-1 control,
all the people who could be inspired by CY-1 info, pictures, updates.

PLEASE DO NOT DISCUSS OFF TOPIC JUNK ON THIS FORUM!

rachel · Post by **rachel** » 12 Jan 2009 21:24

I think it is legitimate to compare CY1 specs and stats to that of competitors, incl esp Jap and Chinese vessels.

Shalav · Post by **Shalav** » 12 Jan 2009 22:03

Sure - as long as moon-hoax conspiracies are left behind where they belong.

Thanu · Post by **Thanu** » 15 Jan 2009 08:01

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Chan ... 979496.cms

ajay_ijn · Post by **ajay_ijn** » 15 Jan 2009 09:08

Chandrayaan maps Apollo landing sites

Sreekumar told TOI that that the six Apollo landing sites which were mapped related to those of Apollo 11, 12, 14 15 and 17. The process began on January 7 and ended on January 10. "Our purpose of carrying out this exercise was to validate and confirm the data through global mapping about the moon's surface and rocks which had been obtained by these Apollo flights," he said. It may be recalled that Apollo 11 placed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon, which became historical because they were the first humans to step on the lunar surface.

He said that the mapping of the Apollo landing zones were done by six of the 11 scientific payloads on Chandrayaan which included the indigenous Terrain Mapping Camera which was first activated on October 29, 1995, the Hyper Spectal Imaging Camera also from Isro, Nasa's Moon Minerology Mapper, Radom from Bulgaria and the Near Infra-Red Spectrometer (Sir-2) of Germany.

Told that the Apollo landing sites were on the equatorial region of the moon, while Chandrayaan operated in the north-south polar orbit, Sreekumar explained that even though the Indian moon mission was flying in the polar orbit, it was successfully covering the entire surface of the moon, which included the six Apollo landing sites.

He said that another instrument on Chandrayaan, the Sub-Kev Atom Reflecting Analyser (SARA), a contribution through ESA from the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, the Space Physics Laboratory and the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, was activated this week. The role of this equipment is to image the moon's surface composition, including the permanently shadowed areas, study the solar wind interaction and carry out studies connected with space weathering.

Chandrayaan hunting for ice, detects hard surface around Shackleton Crater

KOCHI: In what could be a very significant scientific breakthrough, Indian and global space agencies onboard Chandrayaan are waiting with bated breath for a final confirmation of the presence of ice at the lunar poles.

This week India will move Chandrayaan to take a second and closer look into the depths of a small crater on the south pole to confirm the presence of ice after the initial inference of data suggested a strong possibility of this.

Sources told to The New Indian Express that Chandrayaan payloads detected the presence of ‘real hard surface’ inside a small crater sitting next to the Shackleton Crater. Payloads of ISRO and NASA have recorded this unique feature.

But it is too early to conclude that it may be a sheet of ice, sources said. “Such hard surface is very uncharacteristic of the lunar surface. The moon’s upper crust is very dusty. Though the dust percentage would be proportionately reduced inside the crater, the possibility of such a hard crust is food for thought,” they said.

The suspected presence of ice was first detected by an S-band radar that can look into dark abysses where sunlight doesn’t reach. The S-band rays reflect from targets and onboard computers analyse the feedback.

“A couple of instruments on Chandrayaan have given the same inference.

The satellite will be made to focus on the crater once again. This is to verify the first input. The data will be calibrated and cross-checked with input received from other payloads,” sources said.

The presence of ice will give a tremendous boost to global efforts to use the moon as a prospective transit point for inter-planetary missions and future habitat. Apart from iron, the Chandrayaan has detected the presence of magnesium on the lunar surface. But concrete information regarding the presence of Helium-3, the much-sought-after gas considered to be a potential source of power generation, is yet to be recorded.

“There is so much data pouring in every day. This needs to be analysed and translated into scientific information,” sources said. The ISRO is planning a total review of the Chandrayaan data in the third week of this month.

Sources said all partner agencies would take part in the first review meet scheduled for January 29 when a formal announcement of materials detected till date is expected to be made.

Arun_S · Post by **Arun_S** » 15 Jan 2009 22:49

Chandrayaan beams back 40,000 images in 75 days

15 Jan 2009, 0214 hrs IST, Srinivas Laxman, TNN
MUMBAI: Forty thousand and counting. The Rs 386-crore Indian Moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, which completes a flawless 100 days around January 30 has transmitted more than 40,000 images of different types since its launch on October 22, 2008, which many in ISRO believe is quite a record compared to the lunar flights of other nations.

ISRO officials estimated that if more than 40,000 images have been transmitted by Chandrayaan's cameras in 75 days, it worked out to nearly 535 images being sent daily. They are first transmitted to Indian Deep Space Network at Byalalu near Bangalore, from where they are flashed to ISRO's telemetry, tracking and command network at Bangalore.

They said some of these images have a resolution of up to five metres providing a sharp and clear picture of the Moon's surface. On the other hand, they said many images sent by some of the other missions had a 100-metre resolution.

On November 26, the indigenous Terrain Mapping Camera, which was first activated on October 29, 2008, took shots of peaks along with craters. This came as a surprise to ISRO officials because the Moon consists largely only of craters.

Buoyed by the success of Chandrayaan-1, ISRO is now planning a more ambitious lunar venture around 2020 after the Chandrayaan-2 in 2012: a manned mission. This was stated by none other than the man behind India's maiden lunar mission, Mylswamy Annadurai, Chandrayaan-1's project director, while speaking to TOI recently.

Annadurai said around 2015, ISRO is embarking on a manned mission to the low earth orbit, which is 2000 km above the Earth. "An Indian on the Moon is, therefore, certainly the next logical step and ISRO is definitely considering it,'' he said.

On November 14, India's first spaceman Rakesh Sharma said the landing of the indigenous 29-kg Moon Impact Probe on the lunar surface was the first step towards establishing the capabilities for a subsequent human flight to the Moon by India, the probe was one of the 11 scientific payloads on Chandrayaan-1.

They cited the case of China and Japan which are working on a manned mission to the Moon around 2020 apart from the US. "Keeping this in view can India lag behind in this human race to the Moon?'' a space expert from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research requesting anonymity asked.

With regards to Chandrayaan-1, a meeting of all the principal investigators of the different scientific experiments is being held in Bangalore on January 29 to review the preliminary results.

sunilUpa · Post by **sunilUpa** » 17 Jan 2009 00:45

NASA Radar Provides First Look Inside Moon’s Shadowed Craters

WASHINGTON -- Using a NASA radar flying aboard India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, scientists are getting their first look inside the moon's coldest, darkest craters.

The Mini-SAR instrument, a lightweight, synthetic aperture radar, has passed its initial in-flight tests and sent back its first data. The images show the floors of permanently-shadowed polar craters on the moon that aren't visible from Earth. Scientists are using the instrument to map and search the insides of the craters for water ice.

"The only way to explore such areas is to use an orbital imaging radar such as Mini-SAR," said Benjamin Bussey, deputy principal investigator for Mini-SAR, from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. "This is an exciting first step for the team which has worked diligently for more than three years to get to this point."

The images, taken on Nov. 17, 2008, cover part of the Haworth crater at the moon's south pole and the western rim of Seares crater, an impact feature near the north pole. Bright areas in each image represent either surface roughness or slopes pointing toward the spacecraft. Further data collection by Mini-SAR and analysis will help scientists to determine if buried ice deposits exist in the permanently shadowed craters near the moon's poles.

"During the next few months we expect to have a fully calibrated and operational instrument collecting valuable science data at the moon," said Jason Crusan, program executive for the Mini-RF Program for NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate in Washington.

Mini-SAR is one of 11 instruments on the Indian Space Research Organization's Chandrayaan-1 and one of two NASA-sponsored contributions to its international payload. The other is the Moon Mineralogy Mapper, a state-of-the-art imaging spectrometer that will provide the first map of the entire lunar surface at high spatial and spectral resolution. Data from the two NASA instruments will contribute to the agency's increased understanding of the lunar environment as it implements America's space exploration plan, which calls for robotic and human missions to the moon.

Chandrayaan-1 launched from India's Satish Dhawan Space Center on Oct. 21 and began orbiting the moon Nov. 8. The Applied Physics Laboratory performed the final integration and testing on Mini-SAR. It was developed and built by the Naval Air Warfare Center and several other commercial and government contributors. The Applied Physics Laboratory's Satellite Communications Facility is Chandrayaan-1's primary ground station in the Western Hemisphere.

ajay_ijn · Post by **ajay_ijn** » 17 Jan 2009 08:04

Chandrayaan Mini-SAR image
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/Mini- ... polar.html