Chandrayan-1 moon mission

sumishi · Post by **sumishi** » 08 Nov 2008 19:09

So, was this the most critical maneuver, or are there others which can give the jitters?

Vidyarthi · Post by **Vidyarthi** » 08 Nov 2008 19:37

sumishi wrote:So, was this the most critical maneuver, or are there others which can give the jitters?

The next milestone is the release of the Moon Impact Probe and successful operation of its intended plan.

SriKumar · Post by **SriKumar** » 08 Nov 2008 20:12

Mithais all around!! Truly an achievement. Congratulations ISRO.

IMVHO, injection into Lunar orbit would have been the biggest unknown since no test data was available to ISRO (mass of moon, for example

) but seriously, the local gravitational field and its variation. This being the first lunar excursion, I suppose ISRO would have had no actual physical data on that. So all trajectory calculations would have been based on a knowledge of orbital physics and (lunar) geology; I suppose. A major feat. Now that the craft is in lunar orbit, they will have measurements of the local gravitational field.

Arun_S and SSSalvi- Thanks for your responses. I'll follow up shortly.

clay · Post by **clay** » 08 Nov 2008 20:15

Congratulations all around and more power to ISRO !

Regds, Clay

rsingh · Post by **rsingh** » 08 Nov 2008 20:19

Bimillah

Jayram · Post by **Jayram** » 08 Nov 2008 20:30

Congratulations ISRO. You have warmed the cockles of the heart.
off topic - SHQ is talking about wanting my son go into Space now rather than Dr Dr ha.. She is a Dr herself

Talk about spin off effects !
Go Chandrayann... Go India

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 08 Nov 2008 21:00

Jayram, in fact the ISRO university near Trivandrum should be the right place. I regret that it was not there when I was young.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 08 Nov 2008 21:09

From Shri Madhavan Nair's interview . . .

Nobody else in the world perhaps would have got such a precise lunar orbit as India did in the first attempt, Nair said.

Avinash R · Post by **Avinash R** » 08 Nov 2008 21:39

Congrats to ISRO and all Indians.

Vivek K · Post by **Vivek K** » 08 Nov 2008 22:00

When its ISRO, you can be sure!!! Great Job!

Victor · Post by **Victor** » 08 Nov 2008 22:11

Congratulations to ISRO and heartfelt thanks for making us proud!

An accurate lunar orbit insertion is like shooting the eye of a running deer from a galloping horse by looking at a mirror, so no wonder that even the big boys have failed one-third of the time. To succeed with the first shot speaks volumes and IRSO's most critical systems and capabilities have been proven beyond doubt to be at least as good as the best. The successful LOI by itself is enough to consider the mission successful IMO and achieving polar orbit followed by the lunar impacter succeeding and subsequent surface mapping will be icing on the cake. NASA and ESA must be wondering what we can do with their budgets!!

sumishi · Post by **sumishi** » 08 Nov 2008 22:28

Is another quality outsourcing industry opening up?

harbans · Post by **harbans** » 08 Nov 2008 22:36

Great work ISRO indeed! Here's some more info about Chandrayaan, this from NASA:

Chandrayaan-1 is an Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) mission designed to orbit the Moon over a two year period with the objectives of upgrading and testing India's technological capabilities in space and returning scientific information on the lunar surface. The spacecraft bus is roughly a 1.5 meter cube with a dry weight of 523 kg (Launch mass of the system, including its Lunar Apogee Moter, LAM, is 1380 kg). It is based on the Kalpansat meteorological satellite. It will also carry a 30 kg probe designed to be released from the spacecraft and penetrate the lunar surface. Power is provided by a solar array which generates 750 W and charges lithium ion batteries. A bipropellant propulsion system is used to transfer Chandrayaan-1 into lunar orbit and maintain attitude. The spacecraft is 3-axis stabilized using attitude control thrusters and reaction wheels. Knowledge is provided by star sensors, accelerometers, and an inertial reference unit. Telecommand communications will be in S-band and science data transmission in X-band.

The scientific payload has a mass of 55 kg and contains three Indian instruments. The Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC) has 5 meter resolution and a 40 km swath in the panchromatic band and will be used to produce a high-resolution map of the Moon. The Hyper Spectral Imager (HySI) will perform mineralogical mapping in the 400-900 nm band with a spectral resolution of 15 nm and a spatial resolution of 80 m. The Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI) will determine the surface topography. A fourth instrument, an X-ray flourescence spectrometer, will have three components: an Imaging X-ray Spectrometer (CIXS) covering 1 - 10 keV with a ground resolution of 10 km, a High Energy X-ray/gamma ray spectromenter (HEX) for 10 - 200 keV measurements with ground resolution of about 20 km, and a Solar X-ray Monitor (SXM) to detect solar flux in the 2 - 10 keV range. CIXS will be used to map the abundance of Si, Al, Mg, Ca, Fe, and Ti at the surface, the HEX will measure U, Th, 210Pb, 222Rn degassing, and other radioactive elements, and the SXM will monitor the solar flux to normalize the results of CIXS and HEX. The Sub-keV Atom Reflecting Analyzer (SARA) will map composition using low energy neutral atoms sputtered from the surface. The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) is an imaging spectrometer designed to map the surface mineral composition. A near-infrared spectrometer (SIR-2) will also map the mineral composition using an infrared grating spectrometer. The Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar (Mini-SAR) will perform radar scattering and imaging investigations at the poles in a search for water ice. A Bulgarian instrument, the Radiation Dose Monitor (RADOM-7), will also fly on the mission to characterize the local radiation environment.

The spacecraft launched on a PSLV C11 (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota on the southeast coast of India on 22 October 2008 at 00:52 UT (6:22 a.m. local time). The PSLV injected Chandrayaan-1 into a 255 x 22860 km transfer orbit with an inclination of 17.9 degrees. Reaching lunar transfer trajectory involved five firings of the LAM increasing the eccentricity of the orbit around the Earth to a final apogee of 380,000 km on 4 November. Lunar orbit insertion maneuvers will allow the spacecraft to be captured into a polar elliptical orbit (roughly 500 x 7500 km) around the Moon 8 November, which will be converted by four planned lunar burns into an elliptical checkout orbit and then into a 100 km circular polar orbit. The lunar penetrator probe will be released at the earliest opportunity. It will stay in orbit and return data for at least two years. Chandrayaan means "Moon Craft" in ancient Sanskrit. Total cost of the mission is estimated at INR 3.8 billion ($83 million U.S.).

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecra ... =2008-052A

Victor · Post by **Victor** » 08 Nov 2008 22:50

sumishi wrote:Is another quality outsourcing industry opening up?

You better believe it! Existing players in the lucrative launch business are sh!t scared of ISRO. That's why they have tried to stymie our cryogenic efforts but to no effect as we will soon see.

harbans · Post by **harbans** » 08 Nov 2008 22:52

Want to bet virtual money if Chandrayaan will send back data from the Moon? Here's an interesting site..

http://www.hubdub.com/m16844/Will_India ... unar_orbit

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 08 Nov 2008 22:59

cool.
http://broadband.indiatimes.com/toishow ... 689952.cms

first man mission around Earth by 2015, and from there vision 2020 to manned mission to moon.

harbans · Post by **harbans** » 08 Nov 2008 23:06

This is an ESA video on Chandrayaan. Quite interesting. Apologies if posted earlier..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=043KLT0zoHY

prao · Post by **prao** » 08 Nov 2008 23:10

Wow, wow, wow! Great moment for India. Congratulations ISRO

sumishi · Post by **sumishi** » 08 Nov 2008 23:24

Victor wrote:
sumishi wrote:Is another quality outsourcing industry opening up?
You better believe it! Existing players in the lucrative launch business are sh!t scared of ISRO. That's why they have tried to stymie our cryogenic efforts but to no effect as we will soon see.

Yeah, I remember the cryogenic "embargo." And now we have their as... .. errr... donkeys in a surprised quick-freeze.

rbnataraja · Post by **rbnataraja** » 08 Nov 2008 23:38

SwamyG wrote:It is nice that ISRO did it in phases, apart from aiming to take it step by step to achieve its goals. The yaan is in people's and media's mind for a longer time. It is a positive psy-ops It is not out-of-sight, out of mind case.

Congratulations to all the Indians, Its not enough to just say thanks to ISRO for making it happen.
A novice question here.
Totally agree incremental way is the best interms of results. I want to know have we lost an important amount of Fuel doing this? Meaning if we did it in one shot until lets say 380K would we have had more lifetime on chandrayaan?

Rajesh.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 08 Nov 2008 23:41

ISRO can be a role model org for various other aspiring "yet to get there" orgs. Congratulations again!.

I am waiting for the brilliant announcement on the H3 news. Abundant, and see how firangies line up to grab moon land for occupation and explorations. If any, we should announce mission launch sequences, before we say what we are really after.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 08 Nov 2008 23:42

rbnataraja wrote:
SwamyG wrote:It is nice that ISRO did it in phases, apart from aiming to take it step by step to achieve its goals. The yaan is in people's and media's mind for a longer time. It is a positive psy-ops It is not out-of-sight, out of mind case.
Congratulations to all the Indians, Its not enough to just say thanks to ISRO for making it happen.
A novice question here.
Totally agree incremental way is the best interms of results. I want to know have we lost an important amount of Fuel doing this? Meaning if we did it in one shot until lets say 380K would we have had more lifetime on chandrayaan?

Rajesh.

no extra fuel use. this orbit is the most economical. check the last few pages.

rachel · Post by **rachel** » 08 Nov 2008 23:46

GREAT achievement, I am so proud!

Umm, stupid question here: will Chandrayaan return to Earth after two years, splash down in the ocean, and be recovered? Or will it just orbit for two years, taking pics and beaming them back.. and then crash into the moon? Sorry for the dumb question, I just dont know?

FOLLOW UP question: what do the Japanese and Chinese probes intend to do? Same question.. will they orbit and come back??? and for how long?

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 08 Nov 2008 23:51

chandrayaan does not have any SRE vehicle to bring it back to Earth. Not that I have heard off, nor seen pictures of the capsule.

Arunkumar · Post by **Arunkumar** » 08 Nov 2008 23:58

Congratulations ISRO. Hope ISRO releases some images of moon even before CY-1 settles into final orbit.

Since this is not a sample return mission no consideration might have been given in bringing CY-1 back.

krish.pf · Post by **krish.pf** » 09 Nov 2008 00:13

Congrats ISRO!

This is without a doubt one of the most significant moments since Independence! Next put a man up there will ya.

SriKumar · Post by **SriKumar** » 09 Nov 2008 00:16

SSSalvi wrote:
A related question: How do the CY scientists know the position of a satellite in deep space.
There are several bright stars , the catalogue of which is available onboard, are observed. It is done by observing the stars as they pass in front of Star Sensor

Perhaps I should have clarified that by 'position' I meant location and not orientation. My supposition is that star sightings and correlation with star charts can give you only orientation/attitude and not location. I would think that the reference stars, as seen by CY from 10,000 kms from earth would look exactly as they would when CY is 300,000 km (=1 lightsecond) away from earth- since the stars are lightyears away from CY (please correct me if I am wrong).

Arun_S wrote: Indeed that is precisely the reason the Jesuit'es came to Kerela to learn the maths and geometry Indian sailors used to navigate and cut straight through oceans, where as the european sailors did not know any other means but to follow the coast line.

Interesting.

As for deep space positioning; "ALL" deep space navigation depend on triangulation. Traingulation gives best accuracy when the reference (Datum) points are spatially as far as possible from each other. ..... The only accurate navigational information earth bound datum can give is "distance". angular bearing by earth bound resources is too gross and give too much error.

Here is what prompted my question: ISRO needed to fire the LAM at a certain point in space to achieve accurate lunar orbit insertion. I am assuming that this point in space has to be estimated as being at a certain *distance* from a reference point - earth (actually, moon appears to be a more logical reference since that is the target) If so, how can this distance measured (does CY send a signal to earth and they measure the time taken)?- and relative to what datum. Thank you.

Arunkumar · Post by **Arunkumar** » 09 Nov 2008 00:18

A question for gurus...
CY-1 has two instruments onboard which can measure altitude. one is the Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI) employing a infra-red laser source and the other is the C-band Radar Altimeter onboard MIP.
Once settled in the 100km orbit is ISRO going to use them in tandem to see the altitude measured by both and compare their relative accuracies and then release the MIP for the dive?

shynee · Post by **shynee** » 09 Nov 2008 01:15

Here is Some Great Animation on Chandrayan

p_saggu · Post by **p_saggu** » 09 Nov 2008 01:24

These ranging equipments will be used along with the Pictures taken to create a high quality 3D map of the moon. The ranging is used to measure the heights of the mountains and the depths of the craters very accurately.

Any news on the likely site where the MIP is to be directed?
The MIP will rotate along its axis very rapidly as it comes down on the lunar surface. It will not bury itself into the moon in one go, it is designed as a cube which when revolving fast will bounce on the lunar surface before coming to rest.
The whole idea is to kick up some serious amount of dust as it bounces along on the moon for the dust analysis to take place. Finally the Tricolour (Painted on the sides of the probe) will serve as India's landmark on the moon.

If I am not mistaken, India becomes the third nation after the Russians and the Americans to have a presence on the lunar surface?

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 09 Nov 2008 02:19

Chandrayaan has followed its schedule down to last millisecond

UPrabhu · Post by **UPrabhu** » 09 Nov 2008 02:42

Site to keep track

http://moonmineralogymapper.jpl.nasa.gov/

anishns · Post by **anishns** » 09 Nov 2008 02:43

p_saggu wrote:If I am not mistaken, India becomes the third nation after the Russians and the Americans to have a presence on the lunar surface?

If I am not wrong, I guess the Japanese have a presence too
So, India will be the 4th nation

rsingh · Post by **rsingh** » 09 Nov 2008 03:15

Japanese have ont touched the moon yet................just flying around

Raj · Post by **Raj** » 09 Nov 2008 03:19

rsingh wrote:Japanese have ont touched the moon yet................just flying around

Not true.

The primary mission was concluded on March 30, 1991 and the follow-on mission was started. On April 24, 1991 Hiten left Earth orbit and went to the Moon using Belbruno’s route. On October 2, 1991 Hiten reached the Moon at the prescribed distance. After which, it was put into a looping orbit which passed through the L4 and L5 Lagrange points to look for trapped dust particles. No obvious increase was found by the Munich Dust Counter (MDC). After two months in lunar orbit, the spacecraft's orbit was decaying, so the last of Hiten’s fuel was used to crash it into the lunar surface on April 10, 1993.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiten

rsingh · Post by **rsingh** » 09 Nov 2008 03:43

oops my bad..........but but that was unplanned trashing of moon.

Raj · Post by **Raj** » 09 Nov 2008 03:59

rsingh wrote:oops my bad..........but but that was unplanned trashing of moon.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 09 Nov 2008 04:40

The MIP will also end up in bits and pieces on the lunar surface.

Raicharan · Post by **Raicharan** » 09 Nov 2008 04:42

Congratulations ISRO. I have a question. How is this laser altitude meter powered? From the solar panels? I thought laser equipment uses a lot of energy beyond the capasity of the solar panels.

harbans · Post by **harbans** » 09 Nov 2008 04:59

Hi, the original images that Chandrayaan sent were not corrected. Below you'll find the corrected ones. Did'nt realize that due to cloud cover initially.

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/11/03 ... get-earth/

Also interesting comments on this site..

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl? ... 08/1632226