India's Chandrayaan Blasts Off To The Moon!

India's Chandrayaan Blasts Off To The Moon!

www.ibnlive.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

On way to the Moon finally! So far it's been a text book launch. Hopefully Chandrayaan will slip into Moon orbit as planned in the next two weeks.

The Satellite

Chandrayaan-1, a 1.5 m cube weighing 1380 kg, is India’s first unmanned mission to the Moon. It will spend two years performing various experiments including high resolution mapping of the lunar surface in visible light, near infrared, low energy and high energy X-rays.

In addition, the spacecraft will also evaluate the Moon’s mineral resources and the distribution of elements such as silicon, iron and titanium.

Chandrayaan-1 has a scientific package containing 12 instruments - two NASA, three European and seven Indian. This includes a 30 kg Moon Impact Probe (MIP) which will be released from orbit to penetrate the lunar surface.

NASA is providing the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) and the Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar (MiniSAR), which will be able to detect water ice up to a depth of several metres.


Moon Impact Probe integration with Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft
Courtesy: ISRO


Fully Assembled First Stage surrounded by strap-ons of the PSLV-C11


PSLV-C11 on its way to the launch pad


Another view of the PSLV-C11on its way to the launch pad from the Vehicle Assembly Building

Here’s an excellent brief of India’s Moon Program. Target: 2020 for the first Indian on the Moon!

YouTube Link

In case you can't get to that vid, here's the link..

in.youtube.com...



www.isro.gov.in...
www.isro.gov.in...




www.ibnlive.com
(visit the link for the full news article)





[edit on 21-10-2008 by mikesingh]

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interesting news!

Hopefully they don't keep secret what they find.

And that impact probe checking minerals and mining sites makes me wonder...

It seems to me they are in a hurry to get there and begin exploiting the minerals that supposedly other nations have done already, or so the legends say...

Really?! Does it? You may want to load before you shoot sir

Big day for India and the Indian Space Program.
To put this in context, this mission is a first of many on an international level as well:

1) Most instrument-heavy unmanned lunar vehicle. (12: 6 indigeneous, 6 international addons by selection)

2)Highest resolution Camera to be sent to the moon to date. 5 metre resolution.

3)Most cost effective (cheapest) lunar program till date (apparently 1/3rd the Kayuga-SELENE JAXA program cost)

Slingshot to the moon should occur soon.
Keep us posted mikeS..

The spacecraft has reached the highly elliptical Initial Orbit (IO), with the perigee 250 km and apogee about 23,000 km and also has deployed its solar panels successfully.

All systems are go!

Cheers!

reply to post by mikesingh

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nice!!
keep us posted!

Meanwhile, the US military are testing a new space guided missile system, word has it the missile malfunctioned and locked onto the recently launched moon bound satellite launched by India.

One US government official was heard muttering to himself as the satellite exploded saying: "Woops! I guess they won't be able to get those high res shots of our lunar expiditions after all............."

Yep! The stress is on finding He3 / 4 and exotic metals like titanium. India plans to send astronauts in orbit around the Earth by 2012, men on the Moon by 2015, a full 5 years before America, and start building a Moon base by 2020!

And yes, U.S Astronauts would be welcome to have a beer with the Indians in a bar on their Moon base in 2020!

Mars is on the drawing board and the schedule is being worked out. The Indians seem to be in a tearing hurry, what?

Cheers!

Great find and a nice post.

This new space race is very interesting. Earth will no doubt gain from this competition. I wonder if the US will finally reveal their real space program.

That's the billion dollar question! Probably the Indians and the U.S. military/CIA are in cahoots! They may be asked to zipper up if they find anything suspicious there.

But according to an ISRO scientist I met recently at Bangalore, he gave a sly smile when asked what if Chandrayaan finds that there are Moon bases up there? He just said, "well, no comments!"

So there! I think there's probably more than meets the eye here!

Cheers!

Starred and Flagged Mikesingh!

I had started another thread on this launch but I am relinquishing it because I didn't know you had already covered it.

I think that if India found our "base" up there the US Government will help the Chandrayaan "malfunction".

NASA embarrasses itself enough on its own with its obvious "cover-ups". I'm sure Uncle Sam won't let a near 3rd-World Nation blow it for them!

Relax! Yours is in the correct forum.



Hmmm...How come I didn't think of that?

Cheers!

Sorry, I've been "shell-shocked" in the Political Forums with my threads being moved, etc......Its like a warzone over there!

reply to post by mikesingh

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That is a little ambitious.. The manned program has not got the required budgetary approval as yet. Based on the opposition even such a small and cost effective unmanned program has locally (and internationally), a full fledged manned program sounds iffy.

An interesting point to note though:

Local news networks are claiming that the impactor module that well detach from the orbiting craft and crash on the surface, will have an Indian Flag on it that will be hoisted on impact.
None of the international networks are stating this

reply to post by Daedalus3

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Hahaha I am pretty sure it will! Standard Indian way of doing things... why bother sending a man when we can just shoot the flag into the ground from an orbiter!

This is truly a momentous day for India. I just hope that there is a full push forwards with Space Exploration. India's situation is called "third world" by many and yes its true that there are many hungry and materially impoverished people in India, but what counts is progress. With this mission, India has punched through into space and the future. If India can colonize the Moon by 2020, start mining the exotic materials up there and perhaps even start power generation on the moon using Helium3 in 50 years time, then perhaps the price of hunger is not so pressing in the present.

Right on! From the horse's mouth, the flag will be hoisted on impact. Now how the devil is this going to be done? Have they got a gun on board or what??

As regards the schedule of establishing a Moon base, this was from none other than Madhavan Nair on CNN IBN.

Cheers!

Hopefully this means they stop concentrating on the cricket....