India's Chandrayaan-1 heads for the Moon

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 06 November 2008 11:04

Science - Space

India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft is en route for the Moon. The unmanned craft should go into lunar orbit this weekend.

Chandrayaan-1 (Moon Craft 1) was launched on an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) PSLV-C11 rocket on October 22. It is the first Indian space mission to go beyond Earth orbit.

The craft carries 11 scientific instruments, including a terrain mapping camera, an imaging X-ray spectrometer, a near-infrared spectrometer, and a device for studying the interaction of the Moon's surface with the solar wind as well as surface magnetic anomalies - shades of 2001's TMA-1!

A series of five engine firings took Chandrayaan-1 from its initial Earth orbit into the lunar transfer orbit. When the craft approaches the Moon, a corresponding series of manoeuvres will drop it into a 100 km circular orbit.

Once in orbit, Chandrayaan-1 will eject its Moon Impact Probe - a small (470 mm in the longest dimension) device carrying a radar altimeter, a video camera, and a mass spectrometer. It will take approximately 20 minutes for MIP to descend to the lunar surface.

If this part of the mission is successful, India will become the fourth nation to place its flag on the Moon's surface.

The ISRO is already planning the Chandrayaan-2 mission, which will land a small rover vehicle on the Moon to carry out chemical analysis of soil and rock samples, relaying the data through the orbiting probe.