Indian Moon mission ready

William Atkins
Tuesday, 21 October 2008 03:08

Science - Energy

Its mission objectives are to:

(1) “To realise the mission goal of harnessing the science payloads, lunar craft and the launch vehicle with suitable ground support systems including DSN station”

and
 
(2) “To realise the integration and testing, launching and achieving lunar polar orbit of about 100 km, in-orbit operation of experiments, communication/ telecommand, telemetry data reception, quick look data and archival for scientific utilization by identified group of scientists.”


The Moon Impact probe (MIP) will be ejected from Chandrayaan-1 once the spacecraft reaches a 60-mile (100-kilometer) orbit around the Moon. It will then impact the surface of the Moon.

The MIP carries three instruments: a high resolution mass spectrometer, an S-Band altimeter, and a video camera.

The launch is scheduled to occur at 6:22 a.m. India Standard Time (IST).

A live Webcast of the launch will be provided by the ISRO between the hours of 5:50 and 6:50 IST on October 22, 2008. The mission has a window that extends out to October 28 if a delay should occur earlier in the countdown.

Associate Director of the Satish Dhawan Space Center, M.Y.S. Prasad, stated, “The countdown is going on smoothly. The countdown involves a lot of activities and continuous operations, in which hundreds of people work simultaneously. These activities and operations will by synchronised and linked to the common time.” [The Hindu: “Final countdown begins for launch of Chandrayaan-1”]

Learn more about the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft at: ISRO Chandrayaan 1.