Two more Chandrayaan instruments to be activated in the middle of December

Two of the 10 remaining scientific instruments onboard India’s first unmanned lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 will be activated in mid-December for conducting experiments.
The sub-kiloelectronvolt (keV) atom reflecting analyser (SARA) and the high-energy x-ray spectrometer (HEX) are scheduled to be activated in mid-December as they need favourable condition from the sun angle. The remaining eight payloads have been energised and are functioning well.
Of the 11 payloads, the moon impact probe (MIP) was successfully lowered onto the lunar surface Nov 14 with excellent results. The other eight instruments are – mini synthetic aperture radar (MiniSAR), moon mineralogy mapper (M3), radiation dose monitor (RADOM), terrain mapping camera (TMC), hyper-spectral imager (HySI), lunar laser ranging instrument (LLRI), imaging x-ray spectrometer (C1XS) and smart near infrared spectrometer (SIR-2).
The MIP camera took about 3,000 images during its 25-minute descent. Some of the images include the ridge of the Shackleton crater and a vivid picture of the field where the probe crash-landed, thus confirming the execution was precise and at the designated place. They are a valuable catch.
The data, received from the mother spacecraft at the deep space network (DSN) at Byalalu, about 40 km from Bangalore, is being caliberated and studied by ISRO scientists.The data is so voluminous that it will take three months to analyse by our experts. The third instrument – the c-band altimeter gave the trajectory of the descent and confirmed whatever we have done was on target. The MIP experiment is unique as the Chinese and Japanese lunar missions did not have such a one.

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.

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Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument on Chandrayaan 1 turned on successfully

Another successful day for Indian Space Research Organisation. The Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument, which is onboard in Chandrayaan 1 Spacecraft, is successfully turned on as per the commands from the control centre. The instrument was switched on when the spacecraft was passing through the western visible hemisphere of the moon. Preminilary evalution of the data from LLRI, ISRO scientist has confirmed the normal working of the instrument.

LLRI sends pulses of infrared laser light towards a strip of lunar surface and detects the reflected portion of that light. With this, the instrument can very accurately measure the height of moon’s surface features. LLRI will be continuously kept ON and takes 10 measurements per second on both day and night sides of the moon. It provides topographical details of both polar and equatorial regions of the moon. Detailed analysis of the data sent by LLRI helps in understanding the internal structure of the moon as well as the way that celestial body evolved.

Two days before, on November 14th 2008, India announced it’s presence on moon by the successful job done by the Moon Impact Probe. China, which is one of India’s greatest rival has not planted any National Flag on moon’s surface. This is a great moment for the country. Super Powers like US and Russia has virtually failed on their first attempt. But, We have succeed in our first attempt to the outer space.

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Pictures of Moon’s surface taken by MIP

The following two pictures has been released by ISRO, which was taken by the Moon Impact Probe.

Source: Indian Space Research Organisation

Source: Indian Space Research Organisation

The above images are light weight JPEG Images. If you want the orginal BMP images (large file size), use the below links:

Moon Impact Probe Picture 1

Moon Impact Probe Picture 2

India touches Moon, MIP hits Moon’s Surface

Today (14/08/2008), India become the fourth country to have it’s flag on Moon Surface. Chandrayaan-1′s Moon Impact Probe device was eject from Chandrayaan 1 Spacecraft, which has hitted the moon’s surface. MIP has Indian Tricolour painted on it’s sides.

The 35-kilo payload crash-landed on the lunar surface at around 2030 hrs IST. The MIP has started sending its first signals to the satellite.

It also contains equipment which will help scientists design a lunar lander or rover for the upcoming Chandrayaan-2 mission.

There’s a lot tucked away inside the MIP. There’s a device to constantly check its height as it falls, another to check what the air on the moon is made of and even a video camera to photograph the moon from close range.

The MIP disconnected from Chandrayaan at 100 km from the moon. As it fell, it kept sending information back to the satellite.

Closer to the surface, rockets were fired to slow down its speed and soften impact.

After 30 min of free fall, the MIP crash-landed on the south pole of moon. The first three countries were USA, Russia and Japan. By this, China has been overtaken by India in Moon Exploration.

Jai Hind!..