Oh! had just woken up... and was almost thinking about bunking office... damn its been so hectic for so loooong.... n I caught hold of this breaking news about the lunar mission ... damn how could I forget... I had been waiting for this for so long.... :) [check mah earlier posties :D]
Jumped outta d bed.... almost ended up having my breakfast before the TV so that I don't miss out any small piece of information :P
Back to dreaming of a mesmerizing, and happy vacation amongst the stars...
Ah! the scientists went in for payers before the launch, and d'oh! had to rush to office in a while though :P -
anyways.... moon... I'd be there soon :)
Congrats! its a historic moment for the scientists at ISRO.... for the successful launch of Chandrayaan.. d first un-manned launch vehicle - all set to captivate the beauty of the mesmerizing moon.....
Launch date:October22, 2008
Journey to the Moon: Five-and-a-half day geotransfer orbit
Nominal mission: Two years
About the spacecraft
The craft will be cube shapes, with a length of 1.5 meters on each side and a total mass of 1,050 kilograms.
The satellite’s design is based on ISRO's Kalpansat meteorological satellite, launched in 2002. It will also carry a 30-kilogram probe that will penetrate the lunar surface.
A 750-Watt solar panel together with a Lithium-Ion battery will supply power to the spacecraft. A bipropellant engine will be employed to enter orbit and to maintain the spacecraft's orbit at the Moon.
The total mission cost is Rs3.8 billion.
And hey! this is a nice figurette i found about SLVs..... :)
More info: (all from net)
Three out of five Indian payloads that would travel to the space via India’s Moon Mission Chanrayaan-1 have Ahmedabad connection. While one payload was developed at Ahmedabad based Physical Science Laboratory, two payloads were developed at Ahmedabad based Space Application Centre.
Chandrayaan-1 will carry 11 payloads (scientific instruments). Of these, five are India’s very own, three are from the European Space Agency (ESA), two are from NASA and one is from Bulgaria.
The Indian payloads include the Terrain Mapping Camera, Hyperspectral Imager, High Energy X-ray Spectrometer, Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI) and a 29 kg Moon Impact Probe (MIP).
While the LLRI will provide the necessary data for determining the accurate altitude of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft above the lunar surface, the MIP will pave way for future soft landing missions on the moon by demonstrating the technologies required for landing a probe at the desired location.
Among the equipments developed at Ahmedabad is the Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC) which will map the complete topography of the moon with a resolution of 5 metres. It can image a part of the lunar surface about 20 km wide and will work in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum, capturing black and white stereo images. The data from the TMC along with the one collected by the Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument will help scientists map the lunar gravitational field as well.
Another is the Hyperspectral Imager (HySI), also built by ISRO’s Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad. HySI will help map minerals on the lunar surface along with the mineralogical composition of the moon’s interior. This imager, with a resolution of 80 metres and operating in the visible and near infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, can image a strip about 20 km wide.
The High Energy X-ray Spectrometer(HEX), jointly built by the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad and ISRO’s Satellite Centre Bangalore is another key equipment, which will identify polar regions covered by thick water-ice deposits. It will also identify regions of high uranium and thorium concentrations on the moon.
Related Links:
Photogallery of Chandrayan on ISRO website
ISRO website for Chandrayaan launching’s LIVE webcast
Chandrayaan’s official website
Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad’s website
ISRO Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad’s website
PRL Ahmedabad’s contribution to Moon mission Chandrayaan-1