Stephen Withers
Friday, 14 November 2008 00:47
Science -
Space
Indian spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 has reached its operational orbit around the Moon. Next step: release the impactor!
The craft was captured by the Moon's gravity last weekend, resulting in an extremely elliptical orbit between 7500 and 200 km above the surface. A series of three manoeuvres was required to lower Chandrayaan-1 into a circular polar orbit at an altitude of approximately 100 km.
The release of the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) carrying a radar altimeter, a video camera, and a mass spectrometer is expected during the next few days. The spectrometer will be used to measure the constituents of the almost non-existent lunar atmosphere.
Other instruments - some Indian, some European or American - aboard Chandrayaan-1 will be used to search for ice and to carry out various mapping tasks. India plans to land a small rover vehicle on the Moon in the next few years.
Chandrayaan-1 was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India on October 22 aboard an an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) PSLV-C11 rocket on October 22. It is the first Indian space mission to go beyond Earth orbit.