By Hidayath Ansari
India launched its first mission to the moon – Chandrayaan-1 (Sanskrit for moon craft) – on Wednesday morning (October 22) from Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota off the Andhra Pradesh coast. It has had a flawless week travelling through space so far (orbiting at an altitude of 267,000 kms as of Wednesday), and in another 10 days, it is expected to reach the moon’s orbit to conduct several long-term studies related to the moon’s surface and atmosphere.
The launch comes on the heels of space forays by China and Japan earlier this year, displaying India’s scientific prowess and looking to grab a market share of the satellite-launching business.
While the launching rocketry was entirely indigenously developed, the scientific modules onboard the craft are the product of international joint research with NASA and European countries. The total cost of the project is Rs. 386 crores, close to US$79 million; a fraction of the costs of other space missions. Chandrayaan-1 weighed 1400 kgs.
Many of the unsung heroes behind the success of this mission are homegrown scientists, many from small villages and from modest means. Love of their country and their work propel them to achieve such heights.
The successful launch elicited congratulations from India and all over world, and even prompted US presidential candidate Barack Obama to state that this should serve as a wake-up call to the US space program to ramp up and regain superiority in space technology. “We have opened a new chapter in the history of the Indian space programme, not only for the ISRO community but for India and the global community as a whole,” said G. Madhavan Nair, chairman of ISRO. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said from Japan: “Our scientific community has once again done the country proud and the entire nation salutes them.”
Team of scientists with Chandrayaan-1
In another interesting development, the success of this mission has generated interest in Indian-born space scientists currently working in other countries to return to India and contribute to India’s space programme. There are numerous people of Indian origin working in NASA and the European Space Agency, and some have sent personal feelers to former colleagues in ISRO to evaluate the possibility of returning.
Studies to be conducted
Nair said that India was the only country whose space missions were primarily meant to improve the quality of life. Chandrayaan-1 will carry out one of the most intense explorations of its kind, with the mission’s objectives including compiling a 3-D atlas of the entire lunar surface and mapping the distribution of elements and minerals below. It will spend two years scanning the moon for evidence of water and precious metals using remote sensing of the lunar surface in visible, near-infrared, X-ray and low energy gamma rays. The orbiting probe will also explore the availability of water and helium, a clean source of energy, while a smaller probe will be dropped onto the planet’s surface to analyse the composition of dust there. Chandrayaan-1 will additionally study the differences between the visible near side of the Moon and the far side, which is more heavily cratered and different in composition. These studies will help answer key questions about the origin and evolution of Earth’s only natural satellite. For example, the relative abundances of magnesium and iron will explain the early composition of the surface of the moon, by providing historical evidence of oceans of molten magma.
Six of the eleven payloads aboard Chandrayaan-1 are international scientific collaborations, with ESA, NASA, Bulgaria, Sweden, Japan, Switzerland and Germany. The Swedish module will perform remote sensing of atoms kicked up from the surface by solar wind. The German module contains a spectrometer which will help map the mineralogical composition of the lunar surface. Another payload from Wales utilizes a sophisticated X-ray camera to try to achieve a similar goal. NASA included its Moon Mineralogy Mapper, which uses solar reflections to detect fingerprints of elements.
One key objective will be to search for surface or sub-surface water-ice on the Moon, especially at the poles. Another will be to detect Helium 3, an isotope which is rare on Earth, but is sought to power nuclear fusion and could be a valuable source of energy in future. Energy for all these probes comes from a single 700 Watt solar panel.
What’s next?
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said it has plans to conduct more moon missions in the near future, culminating with a mission to Mars in four years time and a manned flight by 2015. It will be working on further improving safety and upgrading its technology, as well as training astronauts. The next immediate goal is Chandrayaan-2, a joint venture with Russia, currently aimed to be launched in 2010. Chandrayaan-2 would have a rover and soft lander for the moon.
Links:
http://www.isro.org/chandrayaan-1/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrayaan