india first moon mission

India’s first mission to moonCHANDRAYAAN -1 : 

India’s first mission to moonCHANDRAYAAN -1

Chandrayaan-1 Mission Definition and Goal : 

Chardrayaan-1 is the first Indian Mission to the Moon devoted to high-resolution remote sensing of the lunar surface features in visible, near infrared, X-ray and low energy gamma ray regions. This will be accomplished using several payloads already selected for the mission. In addition a total of about 10 kg payload weight and 10 W power are earmarked for proposals, which are now solicited. The mission is proposed to be a lunar polar orbiter at an altitude of about 100 km and is planned to be launched by 2007-2008 using indigenous spacecraft and launch vehicle of ISRO. The mission is expected to have an operational life of about 2 years. Chandrayaan-1 Mission Definition and Goal

MISSION OBJECTIVES : 

To launch and orbit a spacecraft in lunar polar orbit and conduct scientific studies. To carry out high resolution mapping of topographic features in 3D, distribution of various minerals and elemental chemical species including radioactive nuclides covering the entire lunar surface using a set of remote sensing payloads. The new set of data would help in unraveling mysteries about the origin and evolution of solar system in general and that of the moon in particular. Realize the mission goal of harnessing the science payloads, lunar craft and the launch vehicle with suitable ground support system including DSN station, integration and testing, launching and achieving lunar orbit of ~100 km, in-orbit operation of experiments, communication/telecommand, telemetry data reception, quick look data and archival for scientific utilization by identified group of scientists. MISSION OBJECTIVES

INFRASTRUCTURE : 

INFRASTRUCTURE The sophisticated ground infrastructure for the mission is all in place and ready to receive the first signals from India's maiden moon voyage.This deep space network will also be used to digitally converse with all future Indian missions to moon, mars and beyond.A dish antenna will keep track of India's moon mission and will send and receive signals from Chandrayaan-1.However, the signals would be very faint as the spacecraft will be nearly four lakh kilometres awayThe antenna weighs 60 tonnes but it can move so as to align itself with the space craft.Rs 100 crore were spent on building the antenna and it will be used for all future missions. Scientists also say it won't let them down.. "We are 100 per cent ready and sure that we will get signals and 200 per cent confidence is there," said Ajit Kumar, a scientist at ISRO."ISRO has spent crores of rupees on this project and because of this project the name of our village became famous even in America" said Rudrappa, a farmer.

LAUNCH CENTRE Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) Sriharikota : 

The Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) is located in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh India. SDSC is mostly referred to as Sriharikota. This is the launch centre for ISRO. The centre is 80 kilometres north of Chennai in South India. It was originally called Sriharikota Range (SHAR) and renamed to its present name in 2002 after the death of ISRO's former chairman Satish Dhawan. The centre became operational in October 1971 when three Rohini rockets were launched. The SHAR facility now consists of two launch pads, with the second built recently. The second launch pad was used for launches beginning in 2005 and is a universal launch pad, accommodating all of the launch vehicles used by ISRO. The two launch pads will allow multiple launches in a single year, which was not possible earlier. LAUNCH CENTRE Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) Sriharikota

GROUND CONTROL : 

GROUND CONTROL Ground Segment for Chandrayaan-1 comprises three major elements viz. Deep Space Station (DSN), Spacecraft Control Center (SCC) and Indian Space Science Data Center (ISSDC). This trio of ground facility ensures the success of the mission by providing to and fro conduit of communication, securing good health of the spacecraft, maintaining the orbit and attitude to the requirements of the mission and conducting payload operations.The ground segment is also responsible for making the science data available for the Technologists / Scientists along with auxiliary information, in addition to storage of payload and spacecraft data.

LAUNCH VEHICLE : 

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) built its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in the early 90s. The 45 m tall PSLV with a lift-off mass of 295 tonne, had its maiden success on October 15, 1994 when it launched India's IRS-P2 remote sensing satellite into a Polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) of 820 km. PSLV has also launched four satellites from abroad (TUBSAT and DLR-Bird from Germany, Proba from Belgium and KITSAT from Republic of Korea) as piggyback payloads into polar SSOs. PSLV has emerged as ISRO's workhorse launch vehicle and proved its reliability and versatility by scoring eight consecutive successes between 1994-2005 periods in launching multiple payloads to both SSO as well as GTO. On January 10, 2007, the PSLV-C7 carried four satellites - the 680 kg Indian remote sensing satellite CARTOSAT-2, the 550 kg Space Capsule Recovery Equipment (SRE-1), Indonesia's LAPAN-TUBSAT (60kg) and Argentina's 6kg nanosatellite called NANO PEHUENSAT-1 into orbit. Considering the maturity of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) demonstrated through PSLV-C4/KALPANA-1 mission, PSLV is chosen for the first lunar mission. The upgraded version of PSLV viz., PSLV-XL which has a liftoff weight of 316 tonnes, will be used to inject 1304 kg mass spacecraft at 240 x 24,000 km orbit and the corresponding spacecraft mass is 590kg when the target lunar orbit of 100 km is achieved. LAUNCH VEHICLE

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT AND REACTIONS : 

NASA has provided a low power imaging radar to Chandrayaan-1. This will be used to identify regions of interest (mostly water-ice-laden polar regions) for a future lunar base. These regions will later be investigated in detail by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. According to an understanding in the international scientific community, the agency conducting the research has first claim on the data and it has to use it in the first year for its research. After that, the data comes into the public domain and is accessible to all. The scientific information gathered by the instrument and relayed to the earth will be first received at the National Science Data Centre through the Deep Space Network Station established at Bangalore, India, to support spacecraft orbiting the moon. Listed as one of the highly-anticipated science and technology breakthroughs of the world, Chandrayaan - I would mark the World’s return return to the moon. Chandrayaan-1 follows recent missions to the moon from Japan and China. Its launch would be followed by the renewed US ( Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in March 2009 ) and Russian ( Luna-Glob in 2009 ) missions. An article by the South Asia Analysis Group has described the Chandrayaan-1 ascent as “one of the touchstones of an India ascendant; an India that has emerged from Her chrysalis. Its time for India to spread Her wings and explore new trajectories. Its time for us Indians to step out of our infinitesimal blue & brown pebble and step into the cerulean infinity.” ISRO invited international space organization to participate in the project by providing suitable scientific payloads(instrument for experiments). ISRO selected 3 (C1XS, SIR-2, SARA) payload from ESA (European Space Agency) 1 (RANDOM) BSA(Bulgarian Academy of Science), 2 (MINISAR,M ASA) from NA SA(National Aeronautics and Space Administration) INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT AND REACTIONS

FUTURE EXPLORATIONS CHANDRAYAAN-2 : 

What is Chandrayaan-2 The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning 2nd moon mission Chandrayaan-2 in 2011. Russia's Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) is joining with ISRO for development of Chandrayaan-2 Lander/Rover. Chandrayaan-2 will consist of the spacecraft and a landing platform with the moon rover. The rover would move on wheels on the lunar surface, pick up samples of soil or rocks, do a chemical analysis and send the data to the spacecraft orbiting above. The rover will weigh between 30 kg and 100 kg, depending on whether it is to do a semi-hard landing or soft landing. The rover will have an operating life-span of a month. It will run predominantly on solar power. FUTURE EXPLORATIONS CHANDRAYAAN-2

MARS EXPLORATION PLANS : 

India has ambitious plans for Mars. India is working on a small Mars orbiter to be launched as early as 2013, on GSLV. The spacecraft, costing about  Rs 384 crores excluding the booster, would carry instruments to research the Martian atmosphere and sub surface, possibly including a radar. The mission is probably more significant at this point in that India is planning to do it, rather than what scientifically it is planning to do. India joins China as an Asian nation defining new Mars exploration. China is completing agreements with Russia on a small Chinese sub-satellite that would be deployed into Martian orbit from Russia’s mission to land a sample return mission on Phobos, a Martian moon. That mission will be launched in 2009. ISRO also has plans to send orbiters to asteroids and comets by 2015. MARS EXPLORATION PLANS