Chandrayaan suffers a setback!

India’s maiden unmanned moon mission suffered a setback. The temperature range in the spacecraft is increasing as the space craft is on the sunlit portion of the moon. But, there will be no damage to the space craft. As a result, ISRO cannot use all it’s instruments at the same time.

According to a report in New Scientist, the spacecraft is currently facing external temperatures of 100 degrees Celsius, and cooling systems aim to maintain the spacecraft’s interior at around 40 degrees C.

“It is local summer for the satellite,” Chandrayaan project director Mylswamy Annadurai told New Scientist.

When the craft passes by the dark side of the Moon external temperatures will fall to as low as -100 degrees C.

Still, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is working in unknown territory, on its first mission operating outside the Earth’s gravity.

“The thermal environment is very demanding. I think it somewhat surprised ISRO,” observed Paul Spudis, scientist at the Houston-based Lunar and Planetary Institute. “They have ways to mitigate the issue, so I do not see this as a big problem,” he added.

Annadurai said that the spacecraft systems are designed to withstand different temperature ranges depending on their use and exposure to radiation.

For example, solar panels that supply power to the spacecraft can withstand from minus to plus 120 degrees C. Others, like its infrared detector can only handle up to 50 degrees C.

Nine of the 11 instruments on-board Chandrayaan have now been switched on for calibration and simple health checks.

The spacecraft’s temperature is expected to stabilise by the end of December.

Until then, scientists will use one instrument at a time, as required, but will be able to operate all instruments simultaneously by mid-January.

Only two more instruments to be made operational, says Madhavan Nair

ISRO Chairman Mr. G. Madhavan Nair meet the press people yesterday at the Airport. He said that all the major operations related to Chandrayaan 1 Mission is completed. 9 of 11 payloads has been successfully turned on. The remaining two payloads will be activated this week.

The two science instruments of the U.S. aboard the spacecraft had become operational and they would start sending data within a week. He also said that everything is going as planned.

Mr. Nair said that with the terrain mapping camera of the Moon Impact Probe (MIP), stereoscopic pictures of the moon would be available, which, in turn, would help to have a better understanding of the height and shape of craters on the lunar surface.

“We are the only country to obtain pictures from such a closer distance. We have got pictures with a resolution of five metres followed by a Japanese probe which secured pictures only with a resolution of 10 metres,” he said.Mr. Nair said the ISRO was planning to launch Chandrayaan-2 in 2012, a mission in which a robot would be sent to collect samples from the lunar surface and conduct tests. In 2015, it would conduct a spacewalk and the man mission to the Moon would be launched only after it. After completing the Chandrayaan series, the ISRO would be going in for a mission to Mars and the steps for it had started. A blueprint of this project was expected to be out only after four or five years, he added.

ISRO scientists have developed Hydrogen Fuel Cells for Automobiles

India’s space scientists have developed hydrogen fuel cells to power an automobile bus by leveraging their know-how of the homegrown cryogenic technology for rockets.

The two-year effort has yielded positive results and the scientists are now readying for the fuel cells to be fitted into a bus.

“That’s not exactly the cryogenic technology… (It’s) liquid hydrogen handling and that’s where we have some expertise. So, we have finalised the design”, Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation, G Madhavan Nair said.

According to Honorary Adviser of ISRO V Gnana Gandhi leading the technical team in this project, ISRO and Tata Motors entered into an MoU in 2006 to design and develop an automobile bus using hydrogen as a fuel through fuel cell route.

Nair said: “Tatas are taking the responsibility for the locomotive part of it, and hydrogen handling system also.

First protomodel has been assembled. Results are good. May be next year, it should be on the road”.

Gandhi said: “We are planning to integrate the system in the first quarter of next year (January-March 2009), and vehicle integration in the second quarter”.

He said the hydrogen cells are a spin-off of the cryogenic technology that ISRO has been developing for the last few years.

For Chandrayaan 1 Gallery, Click here

For Chandrayaan 1 Payloads Gallery, Click here

For Pictures taken by Moon Impact Probe, Click here

Road to Chandrayaan 2 has began!

With Chandrayaan-1 well on its way to moon without any glitch, Indian Space Research Organisation has now initiated a dialogue with its Russian counterpart of worksharing of Chandrayaan-2 which features a lander and a rover.

“Conceptual studies are in place. Overall configuration is finalised but the scientific experiments are yet to be finalised. It may take six months (for finalisation)”, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said in Bangalore.

“The lander will be from Russia. The Russian space agency is cooperating with us. The rover will be a joint development between Russia and India. Many of the scientific instruments (payloads on board Chandrayaan-2) will be from India”, Nair, also Secretary in the Department of Space, said.

Unlike the Chandrayaan-1 which will orbit the moon at an altitude of 100 km mapping topography and the mineralogical content of the lunar soil, the Chandrayaan-2 mission involves a lunar orbiting spacecraft and a lander and a rover on the moon’s surface.

Project Director of Chandrayaan-1 Mayilsami Annadurai said the Government has approved a Rs 425 crore budget for the Chandrayaan-2 venture, with seed money of Rs 50 crore already in place.

Even for building the lander, India can contribute its expertise, Annadurai said, adding, work-sharing discussions on the mission (who will do what) are in progress with the Russian space agency.

“After the lander lands gently on the Moon’s surface, rover will come out and it can move around. It will pick up soil or sand. We will have some instruments that will enable the rover to do in situation (chemical and mineralogical) analysis there (to probe on the presence water vapour and Helium-3 and things of that nature)”, Annadurai said.

Instead of bringing the samples back to earth, ISRO scientists said the rover would be able to do analysis there and send data to the orbiting satellite which then in turn will transmit to the earth with the Indian Deep Space Network performing the task of receiving the radio signals.

Annadurai said Chandrayaan-2 is targeted to be launched four years from the launch of Chandrayaan-1 -October 2012.

Chandrayaan-2 will be a three-tonne class satellite, he said.

Officials of the Bangalore-headquartered ISRO said there might be a provision to accommodate payloads from other space agencies on board Chandrayaan-2 as happened in Chandrayaan-1.

But Nair said: “We have not made an assessment of the payloads which are going on board (Chandrayaan-2). So, that will happen in the next six months. Then we will decide. If there is extra capacity, we will use that (give it to other space agencies)”.

Chandrayaan 1 Mission : Photos (50th Golden Post)

Chandrayaan 1 Payloads Gallery: (Updated)

Terrain Mapping stereo Camera:

Hyper Spectral Imaging camera

Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument

High Energy X-ray spectrometer

Moon Impact Probe

CIXS
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Chandrayaan 1 Spacecraft’s Components

DSN Antennae

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