Chandrayaan Updates Please!

[himanish.bhattacharjee]

Update 10/11/2008

The first orbit reduction manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft which is orbiting the moon, was successfully performed yesterday (November 9, 2008) night. As part of that manoeuvre which began at 20:03 IST, the 440 Newton liquid engine of the spacecraft was fired for about 57 seconds. With this, the nearest point of Chandrayaan-1’s orbit (periselene) from the moon’s surface was reduced from 504 km to 200 km while the farthest point (aposelene) remained unchanged at 7,502 km. In this elliptical orbit, Chandrayaan-1 takes about ten and a half hours to circle the moon once.

It may be recalled that the lunar orbit insertion manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1 was successfully performed on November 8, 2008 and the spacecraft entered into an orbit around the moon with a periselene of 504 km and an aposelene of 7,502 km.

The health as well as the orbit of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft is being closely monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bangalore with crucial support from Indian Deep Space Network antennas at Byalalu. The spacecraft performance is normal.

Further orbit reduction manoeuvres are scheduled in the coming days to take Chandrayaan-1 to its final operational orbit of 100 km height from the lunar surface. After this, the Moon Impact Probe, one of the eleven scientific instruments (payloads) of Chandrayaan-1, will be released to hit the moon’s surface.
http://www.isro.org/pressrelease/Nov10_2008.htm

[Alok]

We have till now seen only one photograph taken by its camera . Anybody any idea when we will see the others taken by it ?- Alok

[nijojosseph]

Originally Posted by Mikesingh

Further to my post above regarding the imaging of the Moon...

The Chandrayaan's catalogue mentions -- "Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC): The aim of this instrument is to completely map the topography of the moon. The camera works in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum and captures black and white stereo images."

But the specs mention that the TMC will image in the panchromatic spectral region of 0.5 to 0.85 µm. That means it covers all spectral bands.

Spectral bands

Blue - 0.44–0.52 μm.
Green - 0.5–0.59 μm.
Red - 0.63–0.7 μm.
Near infrared - 0.76–0.85 μm.

Now what the heck is going on here? Colour or black/white? Can someone elucidate this? Confusion confounded!

If the TMC is in broad visible spectrum why it is not transmitting color pictures?

[Mikesingh]

Hey guys, did you see the first image of the Moon taken by Chandrayaan? It sucks! Looks like a hazy fuzz-ball. The resolution is terrible. My binoculars can do far better. Is it due to the distance or due to ISRO resizing the image?

So is this all we're going to get???

[Mikesingh]

Breaking News!!

Final circular polar orbit of 100km achieved at 1830h IST! At last!

Now to look out for the MIP and some good hi-res Moon pics!

Cheers!

[himanish.bhattacharjee]

Here are the complete details with regards to what Mike has mentioned.

Today, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft has successfully reached its intended operational orbit at a height of about 100 km from the lunar surface. This followed a series of three orbit reduction manoeuvres conducted during the past three days by repeatedly firing the spacecraft’s 440 Newton Liquid Engine. As part of these manoeuvres, the engine was fired for a cumulative duration of about sixteen minutes. As a result of these manoeuvres, the farthest point of Chandrayaan-1’s orbit (aposelene) from the moon’s surface was first reduced from 7,502 km to 255 km and finally to 100 km while the nearest point (periselene) was reduced from 200 km to 182 km and finally to 100 km.

With this, the carefully planned complex sequence of operations to carry Chandrayaan-1 from its initial Earth orbit to its intended operational lunar orbit with the use of its liquid engine has been successfully completed. During these operations, Chandrayaan-1’s liquid engine built by Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), Thiruvananthapuram, has been fired a total of ten times successfully. In its present operational orbit, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft takes about two hours to go round the moon once.

From this operational circular orbit of about 100 km height passing over the polar regions of the moon, it is intended to conduct chemical, mineralogical and photo geological mapping of the moon with Chandrayaan-1’s 11 scientific instruments (payloads). Two of those 11 payloads – Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC) and Radiation Dose Monitor (RADOM) – have already been successfully switched ON. TMC has successfully taken the pictures of Earth and moon.

The next major event of Chandrayaan-1 mission planned in the coming days is the release of Moon Impact Probe (MIP) from the spacecraft and its eventual hitting of the moon’s surface.

It may be recalled that after its successful launch by PSLV-C11 on October 22 into an initial Earth orbit, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft proceeded towards moon and successfully entered into an elliptical orbit around that celestial body on November 8, 2008. Since its launch, the spacecraft’s health and orbit have been continuously monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) with critical support from antennas of Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu.


http://www.isro.org/pressrelease/Nov12_2008.htm

[cooded]

well...MIP has an Indian tricolour painted on it...so we will have our footprints on the moon...i am waitin for the high resolution moon pics...

[himanish.bhattacharjee]

India on Friday looked all set to becoming the fourth nation to have its flag flying on the Moon's surface when moon mission Chandrayaan-1 detached the Moon Impact Probe device, which has the Indian Tricolour painted on it, for a touchdown.

The 35-kilo payload will crash land on to the lunar surface at around 2030 hrs IST. The MIP will then start sending still and digital video pictures of the moon to ISRO scientists.

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 it's 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.

Those photographs will help ISRO decide where to land India's first moon rover, a few years from now. The MIP also has the Indian flag painted on its sides a Sanskrit shloka as well.

The MIP will disconnect from Chandrayaan from 100 km above the moon. As it falls, it will send information back to the satellite. Closer to the surface, rockets will be fired to slow down its speed and soften impact. After half an hour of free fall, the MIP will crashland on the south pole of moon.

Former president APJ Abdul Kalam whose brainchild the Moon Impact Probe is says it's his dream to see an Indian astronaut walk the moon.

“The youth of India should consider that encouragement of the youth is the most powerful resource on the earth, above and underneath, India will do it,” he said.

[himanish.bhattacharjee]

Congratulations guys:

Chandrayaan-1’s Moon Impact Probe (MIP) Successfully Reaches Lunar Surface

[moon]

Congratulation ! What a great success !

http://www.chandrayaan-i.com/chandra...oads/mip1.html