Chandrayaan-1’s Orbit Closer to Moon

October 29, 2008
The fourth orbit raising manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was carried out today (October 29, 2008) morning at 07:38 am IST. During this manoeuvre, the spacecraft’s 440 Newton liquid engine was fired for about three minutes. With this, Chandrayaan-1 entered into a more elliptical orbit whose apogee (farthest point to Earth) lies at 267,000 km (two lakh sixty seven thousand km) while the perigee (nearest point to Earth) lies at 465 km. Thus, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft’s present orbit extends more than half the way to moon. In this orbit, the spacecraft takes about six days to go round the Earth once.

The health of the spacecraft is being continuously monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bangalore with support from Indian Deep Space Network antennas at Byalalu. All systems onboard the spacecraft are performing normally. One more orbit raising manoeuvre is scheduled to send the spacecraft to the vicinity of the moon at a distance of about 384,000 km from the Earth.

Chandrayaan-1 enters Deep Space

26 Oct 2008

Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft has entered deep space after crossing the 150,000 km (one and a half lakh km) distance mark from the Earth. This happened after the successful completion of the spacecraft’s third orbit raising manoeuvre today (October 26, 2008) morning.

During this manoeuvre which was initiated at 07:08 IST, the spacecraft’s 440 Newton liquid engine was fired for about nine and a half minutes. With this, Chandrayaan-1 entered a much higher elliptical orbit around the Earth. The apogee (farthest point to Earth) of this orbit lies at 164,600 km while the perigee (nearest point to Earth) is at 348 km. In this orbit, Chandrayaan-1 takes about 73 hours to go round the Earth once.

The antennas of the Indian Deep Space Network at Byalalu are playing a crucial role in tracking and communicating with Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft in such a high orbit. The spacecraft performance is normal. More orbit raising manoeuvres are planned in the coming few days to take Chandrayaan-1 towards the Moon.

Chandrayaan-1 Spacecraft’s Orbit Raised Further

25 Oct 2008

The second orbit-raising manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was carried out at 05:48 hrs IST this morning (October 25, 2008) when the spacecraft’s 440 Newton Liquid Engine was fired for about 16 minutes by commanding the spacecraft from Spacecraft Control Centre (SCC) at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Peenya, Bangalore. With this engine firing, Chandrayaan-1’s apogee has been further raised to 74,715 km, while its perigee has been raised to 336 km. In this orbit, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft takes about twenty-five and a half hours to go round the Earth once. This is the first time an Indian spacecraft has gone beyond the 36,000 km high geostationary orbit and reached an altitude more than twice that height.

It may be recalled that Chandrayaan-1, India’s first spacecraft to Moon, was successfully launched by PSLV-C11 on October 22, 2008 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. The launch vehicle placed Chandrayaan-1 in an elliptical orbit with a perigee (closest point to earth) of 255 km and apogee (farthest point to earth) of 22,860 km. The first orbit-raising manoeuvre was performed on October 23, 2008 by firing the spacecraft’s liquid engine for 18 minutes resulting in the increase of the spacecraft orbit’s apogee to 37,900 km and the perigee to 305 km. The Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Bylalu is tracking the spacecraft in the present orbit, receiving signals in S and X bands and is sending commands to the spacecraft.

All systems onboard the spacecraft are functioning normally. Further orbit raising maneuvers to take Chandrayaan-1 to still higher orbits are planned in the next few days.

Chandrayaan-1 Spacecraft’s Orbit Raised

23 Oct 2008

The first orbit-raising manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was performed at 09:00 hrs Indian Standard Time (IST) this morning (October 23, 2008) when the spacecraft’s 440 Newton Liquid Engine was fired for about 18 minutes by commanding the spacecraft from Spacecraft Control Centre (SCC) at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Peenya, Bangalore. With this engine firing, Chandrayaan-1’s apogee has been raised to 37,900 km, while its perigee has been raised a little, to 305 km. In this orbit, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft takes about 11 hours to go round the Earth once.

Chandrayaan-1, India’s first spacecraft to Moon, was successfully launched by PSLV-C11 yesterday (October 22, 2008) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. The launch vehicle placed Chandrayaan-1 in an elliptical orbit with a perigee (closest point to the earth) of 255 km and apogee (farthest point to earth) of 22,860 km. In this initial orbit, Chandrayaan-1 orbited the Earth once in about six and a half hours. Following its successful launch, the SCC acquired the first signals and conducted preliminary operations on Chandrayaan-1. The Deep Space Network (DSN) at Bylalu tracked the spacecraft in this orbit and received signals in S and X band and has sent commands to the spacecraft.

All systems onboard the spacecraft are functioning normally. Further orbit raising maneuvers are planned in the coming few days.

chandrayan

Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft undergoing pre-launch tests



Moon Impact Probe integration with Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft



Moon Impact Probe



Readying Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft for Thermovac test




Fully integrated Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft (left) and loading it to Thermovac Chamber (right)

INDIA'S FIRST MISSION TO MOON
CHANDRAYAAN - 1
Announcement of Opportunity (AO)
	Purpose of the Announcement of Opportunity (AO) Through this First Announcement of Opportunity (AO) in the series, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) solicits Proposals from International and Indian Scientific Community for participating in the mission by providing suitable scientific payloads for Chandrayaan-1. Chandrayaan-1: Mission Definition and Goal Chardrayaan-1 is the first Indian Mission to the Moon devoted to high-resolution remote sensing of the lunar surface features in visible, near infrared, X-ray and low energy gamma ray regions. This will be accomplished using several payloads already selected for the mission. In addition a total of about 10 kg payload weight and 10 W power are earmarked for proposals, which are now solicited. The mission is proposed to be a lunar polar orbiter at an altitude of about 100 km and is planned to be launched by 2007-2008 using indigenous spacecraft and launch vehicle of ISRO. The mission is expected to have an operational life of about 2 years. Mission Objectives Carry out high resolution mapping of topographic features in 3D, distribution of various minerals and elemental chemical species including radioactive nuclides covering the entire lunar surface using a set of remote sensing payloads. The new set of data would help in unravelling mysteries about the origin and evolution of solar system in general and that of the moon in particular. Realize the mission goal of harnessing the science payloads, lunar craft and the launch vehicle with suitable ground support system including DSN station, integration and testing, launching and achieving lunar orbit of ~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. Specific areas of study High resolution mineralogical and chemical imaging of permanently shadowed north and south polar regions Search for surface or sub-surface water-ice on the moon, specially at lunar pole Identification of chemical end members of lunar high land rocks Chemical stratigraphy of lunar crust by remote sensing of central upland of large lunar craters, South Pole Aitken Region (SPAR) etc., where interior material may be expected To map the height variation of the lunar surface features along the satellite track Observation of X-ray spectrum greater than 10 keV and stereographic coverage of most of the moon's surface with 5 m resolution, to provide new insights in understanding the moon's origin and evolution