Chandrayaan - indian mission to moon

Even as chandrayaan-1 is underway, ISRO that is India has begun technical discussions with Russia on the joint moon mission Chandrayaan-II which is expected to be launched in 2011-12.

Scientists are planning to land a rover on the moon for carrying out chemical analysis of the lunar surface and explore other resources on the earth's natural satellite.

"In situ chemical analysis and resource exploration is the main objective of Chandrayaan-II," Mylaswamy Annadurai, Project Director of Chandrayaan-I,
told PTI.

Source: the Hindu (http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200712181424.htm)

Indian and Russian are going to revive the joint manned mission project. Rakesh sharma, India's first astronaut, rode to the SALYUT 7 space station 24 years ago and now after the chandrayaan mission in mid-september, India's indigenous manned mission will go into top gear.


Both countries have formed a joint working committee to work out details. The panel is headed by Dr P S Sastry, director of the Advanced Technology Office and Launch Vehicle Programmes of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).


The salient aspect of the new mission will be its flexibility about the crew.

“We won’t restrict it to just Air Force pilots. It will be a nationwide search. And cosmonauts who satisfy basic parameters will be shortlisted,” sources said.

The idea is to select 200 prospective candidates for a second level of screening after the preliminary survey. “We will prepare a list of 20 people. The best two will fly on Soyuz in three years to spend some time on the International Space Station,” sources said.

After the initial training in India, the crew will go to Russia to train with other members of the project. The revival of the joint mission gives ISRO a chance to install infrastructure needed for its own programme.

“The selection process will help us to prepare our own policy for the crew for the Indian mission. We will be able to learn and write a new text with the help of Russians who are experienced in manned missions,” sources said.

A detailed report of the Rs 10,000 crore project has been submitted to the government and the design of the space craft is complete. India plans to conduct three more experimental flights of its Space Recovery Experiment capsule to perfect re-entry techniques.

With ISRO successfully placing 10 satellites into their orbits simultaneously using the PSLV-C9 last week, according to analysts, this has put it several notches ahead of even countries like Russia. Indeed, while speaking to the media after the launch, ISRO's chairman G Madhavan Nair who doubles up as the secretary of the Department of Space (DoS), said as much. This record mission now puts ISRO's commercial arm, the Rs 600-crore Antrix Corporation, in a better position to capture part of the $4bn global satellite launch business since ISRO launch costs are a lot lower than those of its competitors.

Nair, who took over as chairman in September 2003, however, is not sitting on his laurels. In another few months, he plans to kick off the Chandrayaan mission, India's unmanned lunar mission. The idea is to, over a two-year period, survey the moon's surface to provide a complete map of its chemical characteristics.

Read more here

Related links
Watch the videos of chandrayaan-1
How chandrayaan-1 looks like
Who is actually taking chandrayaan-1 to moon?
From SLV to chandrayaan - follow the story of indian space program

Setting a world record, India's Polar rocket on 28th april, successfully placed ten satellites, including the country's remote sensing satellite, into orbit in a single mission.


This is for the first time that ISRO has put ten satellites in orbit in a single launch. This is also the PSLV's twelfth successful flight.

It is for the first time in the world that ten satellites were launched in a single mission. Russia had earlier launched eight satellites together.


The ten-pack launch of the Indian Space Research Organisation saw the 230-tonne Polar Satellite launch Vehicle carry the heaviest luggage--824 kgs--and put into orbit an Indian Mini Satellite and eight foreign nano satellites besides the Cartosat-2A remote sensing satellite.
Read more

watch the vedio of PSLV making world record

Since chandrayaan-1 launch has been delayed till july here's something that i dug up on the rider that will take chandrayaan to the moon!!

The PSLV is the launch vehicle that will actually take chandrayaan and separate it from earth's orbit towards its 4 day journey to the moon.

As wikipedia reports
"
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (usually known by its acronym, PSLV) is an expendable launch system operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites into sun synchronous orbits, a service that was, until the advent of the PSLV, commercially viable only from Russia. PSLV can also launch small size satellites into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).

"

Read more about PSLV at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_Satellite_Launch_Vehicle

and if this has excited you then please do read this http://pib.nic.in/archieve/factsheet/fs2000/space.html

This link lists the MILESTONES IN THE INDIAN SPACE PROGRAMME!!!

Must for any space enthusiast!!

I nearly missed this editorial from The Hindu, a newspaper I used to read while in Chennai, but a chance search on Net brought this before me and I thought why not share it with you all..

I agree that chandrayaan-1 will be a mission that will surely boost India's self-confidence and self reliance.

Asians are heading out to the Moon. In September, the Japanese unmanned spacecraft, the Selenological and Engineering Explorer, nicknamed 'Kaguya,' was launched. It was followed a month later by China's Chang'e-1 space probe. Both spacecraft, safely in orbit around the Moon, have started sending back images and data. Meanwhile, the Indian Space Research Organisation's engineers are racing to get Chandrayaan-1 ready for its flight scheduled for April 2008.

South Korea announced recently that it too wanted to build a launch vehicle and send its own probe to the Moon by 2020. "An Asian Moon race is neither particularly worrying nor especially inspiring," the science journal Nature editorialised recently. After all, it noted, in the 1960s and 1970s, the United States and the Soviet Union mounted dozens of manned as well as unmanned missions to the Moon and brought back samples. There is, however, no space race to the Moon among Asians or anyone else. Those who study planetary bodies argue that there is much good science to be done by exploring and examining the Moon in unprecedented detail. As a result, both U.S. and European institutions are providing several scientific instruments for the Chandrayaan-1 mission.
There is the tantalising possibility of the Moon holding mineral and other resources that might become invaluable some time in the future.


An important reason for visiting the Earth's natural satellite is that such missions provide the hands-on experience indispensable to future explorations of other planetary bodies and beyond. So, as Asian nations grow in economic strength, scientific prowess, and self-confidence, it is natural that they should want to keep open avenues in space to the opportunities of tomorrow. The U.S. is committed to returning humans to the Moon by 2020 and then embarking on the manned exploration of Mars. Although both China and India are known to be contemplating sending astronauts to the Moon, neither country has yet formally committed itself to such a goal. But more unmanned exploration is very much on the cards. China, for instance, is planning to send a rover that can move about on the lunar surface, and in a later mission to bring back rock and soil samples. India too is thinking along similar lines. During Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent visit to Russia, the space agencies of the two countries signed an agreement to work together on Chandrayaan-2, a mission to land a rover on the Moon during 2011-2012. From the dawn of human history, Earth's nearest neighbour has held its allure - and not without reason

When is Chandrayaan-1 launch? This is the question everyone is asking! First ISRO declared 9th april as chandrayaan launch date. Then it got delayed. Reason? To prepare the integration work. Now ISRO chief Nair, stated that chandrayaan launch will be in September. Though the date is not fixed but speculation is that it might be on September 19th!


So the whole world is waiting for chandrayaan launch! Its india's first mission to the moon. In fact its first isro mission that will take something so far from earth.
I have been following mission since the time i knew about it and here are some links that will help you understand this mission better.

Have a look at the pictures of chandrayaan. Know about the chandrayaan the spacecraft here. If you are interested in chandrayaan mission objectives click here. If you believe in seeing a video of the mission then this video of the mission will interest you.

Wondering what is the logic of india's sending chandrayaan to moon? read it here. If wondering Why go to moon? click here

But who will take chandrayaan to moon, yes PSLV, India's most successful launch vehicle. See and read about the launcher and its world record.

If all this talk ignites your interest in indian space program, then this link is for you. See the timeline of indian space program here from slv to chandrayaan.

Indian's moon mission is not only about india but it involves NASA, Europe and Russia

This post was my attempt to guide you to the relevant information you might like to read from this blog. Hope i succeeded. Do let me know in comments?

A PhD student,Rizwana Abbasi, at University of Leicester, UK wrote and interesting article at http://www.countercurrents.org/abbasi290108.htm

I liked the way he historically documented india's space program in such a lucid way. So i am reproducing it here.

Today India is surging ahead to bolster its image as a powerhouse of advanced Space technology. It is all the more surprising that it was only in the late 1960s that India embarked on its Space Programme on a rather modest scale by establishing the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was instrumental in staging the first of its low capability projects in the initial stages.

Earlier experiments and investments opened up opportunities for testing the Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-3), which proved successful. From then on India began to advance by leaps and bounds. It soon started testing a range of SLVs which followed the Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLVs), the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and the more powerful Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). The modernisation of such duel use technologies enhanced Indian capabilities in space and profoundly influenced the South Asian strategic balance. From the 1980s, India jumped into Ballistic Missile superiority by developing its Integrated Guided Missile Programme (IGMDP), which followed the Satellite programme, anti-tank, surface to air, Prithvi and Agni Missiles.

The success of these developments allowed India to achieve rapid superiority in its advanced Satellite Programme. Building upon the success of the Aryabhatta, Bhaskara and Rohini satellites, India started to build high capability satellites, notably the Indian National Satellite (INSAT). The dual purpose INSAT system at present has ten satellites in operation: INSAT-2E, INSAT-3A, INSAT-3B, INSAT-3C, INSAT-3E, KALPANA-1, GSAT-2 and EDUSAT, INSAT-4A and INSAT-4B. The dual purpose GSLV launches INSAT satellites. The INSAT system is a joint venture by the Department of Space (DOS), Department of Telecommunications (DOT), India Meteorological Department (IMD), All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan, the public television broadcaster in India. It is undeniably one of the largest domestic communication satellite systems in the Asia Pacific Region.

The year 2007 has proved to be another significant milestone for the Indian Space Programme. It has brought a significant lead for India, which launched the PLSV-C7 and PSLV-C8 on 10 January and 23 April 2007 respectively. The PSLV-C7 established the Indian capability to launch satellites and bring them back to earth successfully. This venture introduced a new era in launch vehicle and satellite technology development which was an undoubted success and an essential step towards Indian manned space flight. It enhanced Indian capabilities to its global satellite launch business. India has joined the elite club of nations by deploying space exploration resources for commercial use. The PSLV-C8 carried an Italian satellite (AGILE) into a low earth orbit. The GSLV-F04 was launched successfully on 2 September 2007 carrying INSAT-4CR into the desired orbit. It is the largest satellite launched by an Indian launcher so far. The launch of GSLV Mk III is already scheduled for 2008-9. A
n Israeli military intelligence satellite, TechSAR, will be sent into orbit by an Indian rocket, the PSLV, in coming months: after this India could boost its intelligence gathering capability extensively. Above all, India is going to launch its first unmanned lunar mission Chandrayaan-I in April 2008, and Chandrayaan-II in 2011-12. In these developments India received help from the US, Russia, Israel and Europe.

Furthermore, India intends to build a constellation of seven satellites, the Indian regional Navigation Satellite system, a NAVSTAR system which will start functioning by 2012. This project will navigate telecommunication, transport, disaster areas and public safety networks along with other regional activities. Such technology plays an increasingly crucial military role, not only in the development of missiles, but in providing sophisticated intelligence, communications and navigation. Moreover, such is the nature of these projects that these satellites will keep the entire region under the watch of India

For those of who who wnat to read the whole thing please help click the link below

http://www.countercurrents.org/abbasi290108.htm

Related links
Watch the videos of chandrayaan-1
How chandrayaan-1 looks like
Who is actually taking chandrayaan-1 to moon?
Who is powering the Indian space program

The Deep Space Network set up near Bangalore is readying itself for the much awaited moon mission in April. Deep space tracking will be initiated this week, signalling readiness of the network.

In April this year, a spacecraft weighing 1,330 kg will be sent hurling across to the moon. Covering this distance of over 3 lakh km in nine days, it will then become a satellite of the moon for a year and two, after which it will be crashed onto the lunar surface.

Chandrayaan-1, as it is called, will be launched from Sriharikota aboard the PSLV launch vehicle this April. All later manoeuvres will be executed by the control centre at ISRO's telemetry, tracking and command network campus in Bangalore. The tracking will be done by ground stations of ISRO and also space agencies of US, Russia and Brazil.

But in addition to this, a two-way radio communication link between the craft and earth will be established through the Deep Space Network (DSN) set up at Byalalu village, 30-odd km from Bangalore.

Comprising a huge parabolic dish 32 metre wide and made of 180 panels of aluminum and weighing over 60 tonnes, it can receive and send radio signals from/to objects beyond 1 lakh km. It can perform telemetry, tracking and command operations in the S-band and receive science data in the X-band.

Read more at http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jan152008/snt2008011446616.asp

check out the photo of the parabolic dish here at this link
http://www.deccanherald.com/DeccanHerald.com/UserFiles/Image/Jan142008/st1.jpg