Indian Space Program Discussions / ISRO Plans

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aaaditya

New Member
hey guys ,check out this article,writteb by the former director of indian space research organisation,it highlights the aims and aspirations of the indian space research organisation and also shows why the indian space programme is unique.

here check out this link and article:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/8131_1832477,00160138.htm

India's intellectual fire, masked during foreign rule, has started burning brighter and is now visible to the world community. The present century is going to be dominated by the knowledge society and having inherited great intellectual capabilities and wisdom, the new ambience augurs well for India to earn its rightful place in the world sooner than later.
The proven democratic systems of governance, liberalisation of economy, exposure of Indians to world economic order and competition have acted as catalysts to further increase the chances for India to become a global power.
India’s post-independence achievements in science and technology are remarkable. The country has shown the world it can carry out cutting-edge technological research and development and achieve practical results that benefit the common man. The green and white revolutions are fine examples of merging technology with sociological needs. Deciphering the atom and making use of it for power generation and for security needs has demonstrated the competence of Indian scientists.
Outer space for earthly needs
In the arena of space, though India has a short history compared to others, it has achieved technology and services on par with developed countries. The Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite for earth observation, INSAT for communication and powerful launch vehicles like Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) for orbiting the satellites have demonstrated the power of indigenous technology and skills of homegrown scientists.
Above all, India is a leading country in harnessing advanced space technology for benefiting the common man. The national resource planning, utilisation for agriculture, forestry, fisheries etc, as well as reaching out to people in far flung places by providing tele-medicine and tele-education services are some of the finest examples of space applications. The developments in the IT sector, enabling software specialists to take on the challenges of global community, and developments biotechnology are proof of the performance of our young scientists. India has shown to the world that it has totally indigenous technologies and skills on par with other developed countries.
Focus on the youth
The future of India is in the hands of its youth. It is expected that India will have the largest youth population in the world in the coming decades. If they are trained properly and equipped to take on the demands of the global community, India can become of the global leaders both in terms of technology and economic strength. The skill and knowledge, combined with innovation, can definitely lead to appropriate solutions for the problems faced by the society.
This, when translated into cost effective products and services delivered on a timely basis can lead India to global leadership. Innovation and entrepreneurial skills can make the country great and lead us in achieving the status of a developed nation in the coming decade.
The road to becoming a superpower is already visible and well lit. It is for us to walk ahead without going astray or allowing others to overtake us.
 
A

aaaditya

New Member
hey guys,great news ,after chandraayan ,indian space research organisation is planning to send a probe to the mars in the year 2012 for research purposes.

here check out this link:

Indian space scientists are not merely eyeing the Moon. They plan a probe to Mars for a six-to-eight-month odyssey in 2012-13, to look for evidence of life on the Red Planet.

Inter-planetary missions will search for answers to a gamut of questions, from the chemical attributes of the Martian atmosphere to secrets hidden below ground.

They will use powerful remote-sensing gadgets onboard a 500-kg payload. Such plans indicate that Chandaryaan-I (2007-08) will not be a one-shot effort at technologically daunting missions.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G Madhavan Nair told HT: "Mars is emerging on our horizon. The GSLV can take a payload to Mars and our Deep Space Network can track it all the way. There is a lot of interest in Mars, though the distances are large. The missions of the United States and the European Space Agency have given us some interesting data. Let us see what value addition our mission can bring."

An ISRO probe would spark international interest across the world, and perhaps lead to an international Mars station. Former ISRO chairman UR Rao explained that the mission would require new experiments, with many technological spin-offs. "We need very good young scientists and middle-level scientists with leadership qualities to take these programmes forward," he said.

"On Mars, there is a structure that resembles the Grand Canyon but is three times larger," said SC Chakravarthy, ISRO programme director for the space science office. "We will gather detailed imagery to look for answers on how it was formed."

Like in previous projects, ISRO will attempt new studies on Mars. Dr Chakravarthy, said "Our mission will look at a gamut of questions not only of the terrain but sub soil features with high resolution remote sensing instruments."
 
A

aaaditya

New Member
hey guys,great news ,the indian space research organisation has developed a low cost vessel monitoring system for the coastal vessels ,this will enable the indian coast guard to constantly track these vessels and if required to provide them with emergency rescue services,it will also make it easier for the indian coast guard to track contraband and to provide more effective search and rescue services.

here check out this link and article:

http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/nov/24guj.htm

Fishermen from Gujarat who till now navigated the seas using nothing but instinct, may soon have technology to aid them. A satellite-aided tracking system is being developed indigenously to be fitted on their trawlers.
Being developed by scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation at Ahmedabad, the low-cost 'vessel monitoring system' is expected to be fitted in fishing trawlers that would be linked via satellite with the coast guard, senior coast guard officials said.
"The VMS is being develped by ISRO to help the coast guard keep a track of fishermen's trawlers. This low cost tracking device will be useful to monitor their movement during a hurricane, tsunami and even if they stray into international seas," Gujarat coast guard commandant G C Raj told PTI.
The coast guard officials said the trial of the VMS was yet to be conducted.
"The VMS should be ready by 2007. We will conduct a trial after that. As of now, even its pricing has not been decided," another coast guard official supervising the crucial project said.
The vessel monitoring will be done through the coast guard's earth station located in coastal Porbandar district and via the INSAT satellite of ISRO, the offical said.
Veljibhai Masani, president of the All-Gujarat Fishermen's Association, told PTI that the propelled project would benefit the fishemen if it was a low-cost one.
"Setting up such a monitoring system is very beneficial for the fishermen as they get lost in the sea and are caught mainly by Pakistani officials very often. If the device is a low cost one then it is even better," Masani said.
He said that after preliminary talks about such a project he had begun an awarness campaign among the fishermen to install monitoring devices when the government came up with the proposal.
There are 18,000 fishing trawlers and over 10,000 small fishing boats along the 1,600 km coastline of Gujarat, which is the largest in the country.
As of now, there are over 500 Indian fishermen, mainly from Gujarat, who are languishing in Pakistani jails after they strayed into the territorial waters of that country.
The overall fishing industry in Guajrat is worth nearly Rs 2,000 crores with exports crossing Rs 900 crores this year.
More than seven lakh tonne of fish are caught from the Gujarat coastline annually, of which one lakh tonnes is exported.
 
A

aaaditya

New Member
hey guys,here is another of isro's plans,they plan to set up a 100 crore ruppees worth solar telescope in the trans himalayan range,to be the first of its kind by an asian country .

here check out this link and article:

http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?rep=2&aid=338480&ssid=27&sid=ENV

Bangalore, Nov 28: India plans to build a large solar telescope at a cost of around Rs 100 crore in trans-Himalayan area making it the first country to have such an instrument in Asia when deployed, an official said today.

Bangalore-headquartered Indian Institute of Astrophysics, under the Department of Science and Technology, has drawn up a proposal to build the two-metre class telescope, Director Prof S S Hasan said.

Speaking at a press conference on the occasion of the second UN/NASA workshop on international heliophysical year (IHY) and basic space science which began here, he said a 1.5 metre class telescope is expected to be ready in Germany and the US in two-three years.

Hasan, who was in Germany last week, said none of the Asian countries have similar class telescope. IIA would send the proposal to the DST for approval. It would take five years to build the telescope once clearance is secured.

"We have already evolved a concept proposal in the Institute," he said. IIA would seek to involve several institutions including Physical Research Laborary and Indian Space Research Organisation, in this venture.

"We would also like to have collaboration with some external agencies and international scientists in US, Europe and Australia," Prof Hasan said.

Meanwhile, nearly 200 delegates from home and abroad, including Hans Haubold from the UN, and Joseph M Davila and N Gopalswamy from NASA are attending the five-day workshop.

IIA officials said the IHY's objectives are to discover the physical mechanisms that drive the coupling of the Earth's atmosphere with solar and heliospheric phenomena.
 
A

aaaditya

New Member
hey guys ,great news,india is planning the unmanned mars mission for 2013.

here check out this link and article:

http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/India_Mulls_Unmanned_Mission_To_Mars_By_2013_999.html

Indian space scientists plan to send an unmanned mission to Mars by 2013 to look for evidence of life, a news report said on Sunday. The six-to-eight-month mission, likely to be launched in the next seven years, would cost three billion rupees (67 million dollars), the Hindustan Times reported.

"Mars is emerging on our horizon. The geo-stationary launch vehicle can take a payload to Mars and our Deep Space Network can track it all the way," G. Madhavan Nair, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), told the newspaper.
"There is a lot of interest in Mars. The missions of the United States and the European Space Agency have given us some interesting data. Let us see what value addition our mission can bring," he said.
The mission will study the chemical attributes of the Martian atmosphere and the planet's sub-soil and terrain, ISRO programme director S.C Chakravarthy told the English-language daily. India plans to send its first unmanned probe to the moon in two or three years' time
 
A

aaaditya

New Member
hey guys,great news,indian space research organisation is planning to send an unmanned moon mission to moon in early 2008.

here check out this link and article:

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/ISRO_Chief_Plans_Moon_Mission_launching_In_Early_2008_999.html

Press Trust Of India reports that India's space mission to the Moon is scheduled to be launched early 2008, Indian Space Research Organisation chairman G Madhavan Nair has said. "The Moon Mission is scheduled to be launched from Sriharikota early 2008 using Polar Satellite Launching Vehicle (PSLV) and would take five days to reach near the Moon's orbit," the ISRO Chief told PTI when asked about the progress of the ambitious mission.

The unmanned space craft would revolve around the Moon for two years to collect valuble data on the Earth's Satellite, Nair said without elaborating on the mission. The ISRO Chairman was here to attend a function organised by the Malabar Cancer Care Society, a telemedicine provider, facilitating cancer patients in north Kerala online interaction, using satellite services, with the experts of the Thiruvananthapuram-based Regional Cancer Centre.
 
A

aaaditya

New Member
hey guys,having learnt a bitter lesson from the failure of the gslv mk3,indian space research organisation is to conduct more stringent quality checks.

here check out this link and article:

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/001200612071921.htm


New Delhi, Dec. 7 (PTI): An expert committee probing the crash of a satellite launch vehicle on July 10 this year has recommended "very stringent" quality checks on the supplied components, Rajya Sabha was informed today.
Minister of State in the Prime Minister Office, Prithviraj Chavan, said the explosion in Geo-Stationary Launch Vehicle (GSLV), which was to put INSAT-4C communication satellite into the orbit, resulted in a loss of Rs 256 crore.
The primary cause of mission failure was attributed to the loss of thrust in one liquid strap-on motor due to malfunctioning of propellent regulator.
The entire engine system, including propellent regulator, is procured from the industry as per the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) design at a cost of Rs 120 lakh per engine, Chavan said.
"The propellent regulator is a complex and high precision device, and some of its critical dimensions can be checked at the stage of manufacture only. As the manufacturer's log book did not indicate the deviation in dimension, it went unnoticed," he said. "Over the past several years, nearly 50 engine systems have been successfully realised in Indian industries and have been put to use in flight as well as ground tests," he added.
 
Y

y_raj

New Member
hey guys,having learnt a bitter lesson from the failure of the gslv mk3,indian space research organisation is to conduct more stringent quality checks.
Click to expand...
You are wrong about that . GSLV mk3 was never even test launched. it will do so next year. the one you are talking about is mark 2 , a slight development over mark 1.

regards,
y raj
 
A

aaaditya

New Member
hey guys,great news,indian space research organisation is to test a reusable space capsule.

here check out this link and article:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...reusable_space_vehicle/articleshow/779971.cms

Come January, and India's space programme will soar into a new hi-tech era creating history.

Between January 10 and 15, 2007, the highly-proven four-stage Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will thunder off the launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, carrying with it three satellites.

The mission is being viewed with considerable interest by international space agencies because India will evaluate the reusable launch vehicle (RLV) technology for the first time.

In an interview with Times of India on Saturday, chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) G Madhavan Nair, said the three satellites to be carried by the rocket are the indigenous Cartosat-2, to be used for mapping purposes, a space capsule recovery experiment (SRE) and a 50 kilogram Indonesian satellite called Lapan.

The SRE mission is important because the capsule will be placed in orbit at an altitude of 625 km and recovered after sometime.

This will allow Indian Space Research Organisation to study the reusable launch vehicle technology especially in the critical area of re-entry when the capsule will experience searing temperatures.

This flight is expected to provide valuable input to the space agency in designing a reusable launch vehicle that will take off like a rocket, place a satellite in orbit and land back on a runway like an aircraft.

In short it will be an Indian space shuttle incorporating several improvements. Once placed in orbit, the capsule carrying some microgravity experiments is expected to remain in that position for 12 to 90 days.

When the drop command is flashed from Isro's telemetry and tracking centre at Bangalore, it will re-enter at a velocity of 1.5 km per second and splash down either in the Bay of Bengal or the Pulicat Lake.

During the final moments of the touchdown the capsule's speed will be reduced with the help of three parachutes.

The main advantage of a reusable launch vehicle over the current expendable rockets is that the launch cost is considerably cheaper.

Nair said the process of integrating the 44-metre tall PSLV rocket has been initiated at Sriharikota.
​
 
A

aaaditya

New Member
hey guys,great news here ,the indian space capsule has undergone sucessfull wind tunnel testing in italy.

here check out this link and article:

http://www.cira.it/html/inglese/news/news_comunicati.asp

Two models of the re-entry capsule named SRE (Space Capsule Recovery Experiment) have been successfully tested in the Plasma Wind Tunnel belonging to CIRA (Italian Centre for Aerospace Research) in Capua. The tests, carried out on the last days, were the result of a contract initialed at the beginning of the year with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

The purpose of the tests: to subject the capsule to a test of re-entry into the atmosphere, in order to glean useful information on the thermal flow and on the resistance of the materials, phenolic resins and silica tiles, used in constructing the capsule.
During the test, a hypersonic speed of Mach 8 was reached, with a thermal flow of 2500 KW/m2, the highest ever reached to date in the Scirocco plasma wind tunnel, while temperatures in the order of 2000°C were tried out on the nose of the capsule during the 150 seconds of exposure to the flow. The Indian organization declared itself fully satisfied with the tests, which did not fail to live up to expectations: the models did, indeed, resist the thermal stresses to which they were subjected.

In carrying out these experiments, the Indian space organization wished to demonstrate its ability to develop a 500kg capsule capable of re-entry from space, along with the relevant technologies. The launch of the capsule, which places India among the group of those countries committed to the conquest of space, is planned for mid-October. After it has remained in space for a few days, over the course of which a number of experiments in microgravity conditions will be performed, the de-orbiting and atmospheric re-entry phase will begin. To reduce the speed of the fall, apart from aerodynamic drag, there will be a system of parachutes which will allow the shuttle to touch down in the sea in the Bay of Bengal.

The beginnings of the collaboration between CIRA and the Indian Space Agency stretch back to February 2005 when the exhibition “Italy and India” was held in New Delhi. The subsequent visit, on the part of the Indian delegation, to our Center and the Plasma Wind Tunnel, the only installation of its kind in the world in terms of power and size, allowed the details of the testing campaign, that was the subject of the contract initialed between the head of the Indian agency, Madhavan Nair, and CIRA President , Sergio Vetrella, to be determined.
 
A

aaaditya

New Member
hey guys,check out this link,it contains an image of the indian recoverable space capsule.

here is the link and article:

http://www.hindu.com/2006/12/22/stories/2006122206711300.htm

Preparations are going on "smoothly" for the launch of four satellites from a single Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle named PSLV-C7 from Sriharikota around January 10, 2007. What is novel about this mission is that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will orbit for the first time a recoverable satellite called the Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE). After the SRE stays in orbit for a week or so, it will splash down 140 km east of Sriharikota island in the Bay of Bengal and recovered by the Navy.

This SRE, which weighs about 615 kg, is a technological forerunner to ISRO mastering the re-entry technology and building re-usable launch vehicles. A host of new technologies such as deceleration and flotation systems will be tested when the SRE descends from its orbit. Its three parachutes will open one after another when it is five km above the waters of the Bay of Bengal and commands given to drop down.
Multi-mission flight

B.N. Suresh, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, called the PSLV-C7 flight "a multi-mission." He said, "We will put four satellites in four different orbits. We have to put them in appropriate slots." The four satellites are: ISRO's Cartosat-II which weighs 665 kg; the cone-shaped SRE; the 56-kg LAPAN-Tubsat developed by Indonesia and the Technical University of Berlin; and the six-kg micro-satellite called Pehuen from Argentina.
The four stages of the PSLV-C7 have been stacked up in the first launch pad at SHAR. The four satellites will be married up (repeat married up) to the rocket in a few days.
"All tests are proceeding smoothly. So far we have faced no problem," said the VSSC Director.
"The launch of the SRE will really be a new experience for us," said Dr. Suresh. It would be a forerunner to ISRO mastering the re-entry and recovery technologies. "Both are important for our Re-usable Launch Vehicle," Dr. Suresh said. The SRE would stay in obit for a week. But it could stay longer for a month.
According to A. Subramonian, Project Director, SRE, VSSC, the SRE's payloads, during its stay in orbit, will perform two experiments. One relates to the growth of crystals and the other is a bio-mimetic experiment for studying the growth of minerals in micro-gravity environment.
According to ISRO engineers, after the SRE stays in orbit for about a week, it will be de-orbited and brought back to the earth in precisely planned manoeuvres. It will thus provide them valuable experience in navigation, guidance and control during the re-entry phase. The SRE has a thermal protection system which prevents it from burning up when it knives into the earth's atmosphere and searing heat is generated. After re-entry, about five km above the sea level, the three parachutes in the SRE will open up sequentially at predicted altitudes and the SRE will splash down.
Cartographic applications will get a boost from the images sent by the camera on board Cartosat-II. The images will be used in preparing maps for planning towns and cities, and at cadastral level. The images will have a one-metre resolution.
The LAPAN-Tubsat is a technology demonstrator for earth observation.
Pehuen satellite is to gain experience in building satellites and operating them.
The PSLV is 44.4 metres tall and weighs 295 tonnes. The PSLV, in its missions in 1999 and 2001, had orbited three satellites each. This is the first time that the PSLV will put in orbit four satellites. While the VSSC is the key centre for building the rocket, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore, is the lead centre for building Cartosat-II.
 
RubiconNZ

RubiconNZ

The Wanderer
Has India got a set goal as to putting a manned mission into orbit?
A succesful reusable capsule series certainly puts them on the right
track for it.
 
A

aaaditya

New Member
robsta83 said:
Has India got a set goal as to putting a manned mission into orbit?
A succesful reusable capsule series certainly puts them on the right
track for it.
Click to expand...
isro is currently studying a manned lunar mission,a mars orbiter and an asteroid orbiter for its programmes from 2012 onwards.
 
A

aaaditya

New Member
hey guys,great news ,indian space research organisation is to launch a space capsule this year to test re-entry vehicle technologies.

here check out this link and article:

http://www.playfuls.com/news_003683_India_Plans_To_Launch_Space_Capsule_In_January.html

India will launch a space capsule in early January as the first step towards a plan to launch a moon mission, news reports said Sunday.

The 50-kilo capsule will be brought back after 15-30 days' orbit round the earth, the Indian Express newspaper reported.

The capsule is expected to fall somewhere in the Bay of Bengal off India's eastern coast and will be recovered by the Indian navy.

The exercise is aimed at testing re-entry and recovery technology which will be a crucial part of the moon mission, officials at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said.

ISRO announced in November that it plans to send an unmanned mission to the moon by March 2001.

The capsule will be launched by the space launch vehicle PSLV C7 that will also put into orbit an Indian satellite and two others from Indonesia and Argentina.
 
A

aaaditya

New Member
hey guys,check out this link and article,it contains some valuable information on the scope of the satellite recovery experiment to be carried out by the indian space research organisation.

here is the link and the article:

http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14361197

Space scientists are readying for what many see as a path breaking event — the January 10, 2006 launch by India of four satellites, including a recoverable spacecraft, on a home-grown rocket.
Officials of Bangalore-based Indian Space Research Organisation are talking of a 9.30 am blast-off on that day from the spaceport at Sriharikota.


The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C7) will carry into space India's Cartosat-2, a 680-kg mapping satellite, and the Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE, 550 kg), Indonesia's Lapan-Tubsat satellite (56 kg) and Pehuensat of Argentina (six kg).
This is the first time India will launch four satellites together, including the recoverable SRE that is intended to demonstrate the capability to recover an orbiting space capsule and associated technologies.
"SRE is intended to test a reusable thermal protection system, systems for navigation, guidance and control, hypersonic aero-dynamics, management of communication blackout, deceleration and floatation system and recovery experiments," an ISRO official said in Bangalore.
Cartosat-2, an advanced remote sensing satellite, will carry a single panchromatic camera capable of providing scene- specific spot imagery for cartographic and a host of other applications.
ISRO officials said the panchromatic camera is designed to provide better than 1 m spatial resolution imagery with a swath of around 10 km. This means the camera will be capable of spotting objects on the ground that measure about one metre. The satellite will also have high agility with the capability of steering along and across the track up to plus-45 degrees.
SRE according to ISRO comprises an aero-thermo structure, spacecraft platform, deceleration and floatation system and micro-gravity payloads.
A parachute, pyro-devices, avionics packages of triggering unit and sequencer, telemetry and tracking system and sensors for measuring system performance parameters are placed inside the SRE capsule.
An ISRO official told PTI that SRE will remain in orbit for two to four weeks during which it will be used to perform experiments in a micro-gravity environment.
"The capsule will then be de-orbited and re-enter the earth's atmosphere," the official said.
On re-entry, after initial aerodynamic braking, a parachute system will reduce its touch down velocity. SRE will splash down in the Bay of Bengal, about 140 km east off the Sriharikota coast. ISRO said a floatation system will keep the SRE afloat and enable its recovery.
 
A

aaaditya

New Member
hey guys,great news, indian space research organisation is developing a moon rover for its chandrayaan 2 project ,which is to be the followup of its chandrayaan 1 project.

here check out this link and article for more information:

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/NEWS/newsrf.php?newsid=7998


CHENNAI: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) hopes to land a motorised rover on the moon in 2010 or 2011, as a part of its second Chandrayaan mission. The rover will be designed to move on wheels on the lunar surface, pick up samples of soil or rocks, do in situ chemical analysis and send the data to the mother-spacecraft Chandrayaan-II, which will be orbiting above. Chandrayaan-II will transmit the data to the ground.
ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair said: "We are trying to conceive of an experiment in which the system will land on the lunar surface, move around and pick up samples, do their chemical analysis and transmit the data back to the ground."
Chandrayaan-II will consist of the spacecraft itself and a landing platform with the moon rover. The platform with the rover will hive itself off after the spacecraft reaches its orbit above the moon, and land on lunar soil. Then the rover will roll out of the platform. M. Annadurai, Project Director, Chandrayaan-I, said: "Chandrayaan-II will carry a semi-hard or soft-landing system. A motorised rover will be released on the moon's surface from the lander. The location for the lander will be identified using Chandrayaan-I data."
The technological forerunner to the rover will be the moon impact probe (MIP) of Chandrayaan-I. The MIP is a 29-kg instrument that will detach itself from Chandrayaan-I, descend some 100 km and crash land on the moon.
The rover will weigh between 30 kg and 100 kg, depending on whether it is to do a semi-hard landing or soft landing. The rover will have an operating life-span of a month. It will run predominantly on solar power.
If ISRO wants to operate the rover for two or three months, its engineers will configure the vehicle and its instruments including a battery back-up to go into a low-power mode, with the rover waking up when sunlight streams through. When the sunlight comes, the solar-powered battery cells will be re-charged and the equipment will be switched on one by one for the rover to function for another two weeks. "The batteries will be re-charged every two weeks," said Mr. Annadurai.
Right now, the focus is on the Chandrayaan-I mission and work is under way in various ISRO units on it. A powerful Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-XL, will put the 1,300-kg Chandrayaan-I in orbit in the first quarter of 2008.
A dish antenna with a diameter of 18 m has been installed at Byalalu village, 40 km from Bangalore, to track the spacecraft. Chandrayaan-I will carry 11 items of payload including five from ISRO and six from countries other than India.
Mr. Annadurai said: "It is a national mission with international participation and ISRO is playing the captain's role. For the first time, we are building a spacecraft with 11 instruments from different organisations. So, technologically and managerially it is a challenging job. Basically our objective is to do a systematic mapping of the mineral and chemical resources on the entire surface of the moon." The ISRO payload will take pictures of the moon terrain, survey minerals, study gravity and analyse the chemical nature of the terrain.
The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, is building the MIP. B.N. Suresh, VSSC Director, said: "The MIP sits like a hat on top of the main Chandrayaan-I module. It detaches from the spacecraft, ignites its solid motor, takes its own trajectory and we will decide where it will impact on the moon's surface."
The MIP will have three instruments. According to Mr. Annadurai, its mass spectrometer will sense the moon's atmospheric constituents as it keeps falling for 18 minutes and crashes on the moon. Its altimeter will measure the instantaneous altitude during its descent. Its video-imaging system will look at the moon from close proximity in order that ISRO scientists may take decisions on the terrain where it will land.
 
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