Chandrayaan-1

Chandrayaan-1
Mission typeLunar orbiter and Impactor
OperatorISRO
COSPAR ID2008-052A
SATCAT no.33405
Websitewww.isro.gov.in/Spacecraft/chandrayaan-1
Mission durationPlanned: 2 years
Final: 10 months, 6 days
Spacecraft properties
ManufacturerISRO
Launch mass1,380 kg (3,040 lb)[1]
Dry mass560 kg (1,230 lb)[2]
Payload mass105 kg (231 lb)[2]
Start of mission
Launch date22 October 2008, 00:52 (2008-10-22UTC00:52) UTC
RocketPSLV-XL C11[3][4]
Launch siteSatish Dhawan Space Centre
ContractorISRO
End of mission
Last contact28 August 2009, 20:00 (2009-08-28UTC21) UTC
Orbital parameters
Reference systemSelenocentric
Semi-major axis1,758 kilometers (1,092 mi)
Eccentricity0.0
Periselene altitude200 km (120 mi)
Aposelene altitude200 km (120 mi)
Epoch19 May 2009
Lunar orbiter
Orbital insertion8 November 2008
Orbits3,400 at EOM[5]

Chandrayaan-1 (pronunciationⓘ; from Sanskrit: Chandra, "Moon" and yāna, "craft, vehicle")[6] was the first Indian lunar probe under the Chandrayaan programme. It was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in October 2008, and operated until August 2009. The mission included an orbiter and an impactor. India launched the spacecraft using a PSLV-XL rocket on 22 October 2008 at 00:52 UTC from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.[7] The mission was a major boost to India's space program, as India researched and developed indigenous technology to explore the Moon.[8] The vehicle was inserted into lunar orbit on 8 November 2008.

On 14 November 2008, the Moon Impact Probe separated from the Chandrayaan orbiter at 14:36 UTC and struck the south pole in a controlled manner. The probe hit near the crater Shackleton at 15:01 UTC.[9][10][11][12] The location of impact was named Jawahar Point.[13] With this mission, ISRO became the fifth national space agency to reach the lunar surface. Other nations whose national space agencies achieved similar feats were the former Soviet Union in 1959,[14] the United States in 1962,[15] Japan in 1993,[16] and ESA member states in 2006.[17][18][19]

Estimated cost for the project was ₹386 crore (US$88.73 million). It was intended to survey the lunar surface for over two years, to produce a complete map of the chemical composition at the surface and its three-dimensional topography. The polar regions were of special interest as they had high probability of presence of water ice.[20][21] One of its many achievements was the discovery of the widespread presence of water molecules in lunar soil.[22]

After almost a year, the orbiter started experiencing several technical issues including failure of the star tracker and poor thermal shielding; Chandrayaan-1 stopped communicating at about 20:00 UTC on 28 August 2009, shortly after which the ISRO officially declared that the mission was over. Chandrayaan-1 operated for 312 days as opposed to the intended two years; however, the mission achieved most of its scientific objectives, including detecting the presence of Lunar water.[5][23][24][25]

On 2 July 2016, NASA used ground-based radar systems to relocate Chandrayaan-1 in its lunar orbit, almost seven years after it shut down.[26][27] Repeated observations over the next three months allowed a precise determination of its orbit which varies between 150 and 270 km (93 and 168 mi) in altitude every two years.[28]

  1. ^ "Spacecraft Description". ISRO. Archived from the original on 28 October 2008. Retrieved 4 November 2008.
  2. ^ a b Datta, Jayati; Chakravarty, S. C. "Chandrayaan-1 India's First Mission to Moon" (PDF). VSSC.gov.in. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 August 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  3. ^ "Mission Sequence". ISRO. Archived from the original on 6 July 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2008.
  4. ^ "Chandrayaan-1 shifted to VAB". The Hindu. 22 October 2008. Archived from the original on 17 October 2008. Retrieved 15 October 2008.
  5. ^ a b "Chandrayaan-I Spacecraft Loses Radio Contact". ISRO. 29 August 2009. Archived from the original on 30 August 2009. Retrieved 31 August 2009.
  6. ^ "India delays mission to land a rover on the moon". CNN. Archived from the original on 5 December 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  7. ^ "PSLV-C11 Successfully Launches Chandrayaan-1". ISRO. 22 October 2008. Archived from the original on 7 January 2012. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  8. ^ Pasricha, Anjana (22 October 2008). "India Launches First Unmanned Mission to Moon". Voice of America. Archived from the original on 1 August 2009. Retrieved 27 December 2008.
  9. ^ "Chandrayaan-1 starts observations of the Moon". www.esa.int. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  10. ^ "An afterthought". frontline.thehindu.com. 18 December 2008. Archived from the original on 2 December 2022. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  11. ^ "Chandrayaan team over the Moon". The Hindu. 15 November 2008. Archived from the original on 16 December 2008.
  12. ^ "081125 Chandrayaan1 Moon probe a big hit". www.astronomynow.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2022. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  13. ^ "8.4 Chandrayaan-1 Mission The New Face of the Moon by J.N. GOSWAMI". From Fishing Hamlet To Red Planet. Harper Collins. 2015. p. 506. ISBN 978-9351776895. Archived from the original on 9 September 2017. Retrieved 28 March 2019. The landing site of the MIP was named 'Jawahar Sthal' to commemorate the birthday of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, which also falls on 14 November coinciding with the date of the MIP impact.
  14. ^ "Luna 2". US National Space Science Data Center. Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
  15. ^ "Ranger 3". US National Space Science Data Center. Archived from the original on 8 January 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
  16. ^ "Hiten". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive (NSSDCA). Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  17. ^ "Probe crashes into Moon's surface". BBC News. 3 September 2006. Archived from the original on 13 May 2008. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  18. ^ "China's lunar probe Chang'e-1 impacts moon_English_Xinhua". news.xinhuanet.com. Archived from the original on 2 March 2009.
  19. ^ Laxman, Srinivas (15 November 2008). "Chandrayaan-I Impact Probe lands on moon". Times Of India. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2008.
  20. ^ Acharya, Prasanna; Singh, Jitendra (3 August 2017). "Question No. 2222: Status of Chandrayaan Programme" (PDF). Rajya Sabha. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  21. ^ Bhandari N. (2005). "Title: Chandrayaan-1: Science goals" (PDF). Journal of Earth System Science. 114 (6): 699. Bibcode:2005JESS..114..701B. doi:10.1007/BF02715953. S2CID 55469375. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 December 2019. Retrieved 15 September 2006.
  22. ^ "Lunar Missions Detect Water on Moon". VOA. 2 November 2009.
  23. ^ "Chandrayaan-1 mission terminated". The Hindu. 31 August 2009. Archived from the original on 2 September 2009. Retrieved 31 August 2009.
  24. ^ "Chandrayaan, India's first Moon mission is over: Project Director". Indian Express. Press Trust of India. 29 August 2009. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  25. ^ "Chandrayan not a failure: NASA astronaut". Press Trust of India. Archived from the original on 14 September 2009. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
  26. ^ Karimi, Faith (10 March 2017). "NASA finds lunar spacecraft that vanished 8 years ago". CNN. Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  27. ^ Agle, D. C. (9 March 2017). "New NASA Radar Technique Finds Lost Lunar Spacecraft". NASA. Archived from the original on 13 March 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  28. ^ Udhayakumar, M.; Singh, Jitendra (2 August 2017). "Question No. 2783: Chandrayaan-1" (PDF). Lok Sabha. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2017.