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New Delhi, India (PTI) Sep 22, 2008 India's maiden moon mission could begin its space odyssey in December if it misses its earliest launch window of October 19-26, former ISRO chief Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan has said. The cyclone season in the Bay of Bengal extends all through November which rules out the possibility of space launches, he said. Chandrayaan-I, which is being assembled at the ISRO Satellite Centre in Bangalore, will be launched from the Satish Dhawan spaceport at Sriharikota on the eastern coast. The spacecraft, which will orbit the moon at a distance of 100 km, was unveiled in Bangalore last week. It is yet to undergo vibration and acoustic tests. For the vibration test, the spacecraft integrated with all its components would be put through a simulated environment similar to the vibrations emitted while being launched by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. The acoustic test would simulate sound equivalent to 10 jet engines to ensure integrity of systems and to ensure that noise does not create any disturbance or affect the functioning of any component. "The mission is progressing as per the strict timeline," said Kasturirangan, who got the mission going when he was at the helm of affairs at the Indian Space Research Organisation. Chandrayaan is devoted to high resolution remote sensing of lunar surface features and is expected to have an operational life of two years. The indigenously made spacecraft would carry 11 payloads, six from international organisations like NASA and ESA, and five from India. The main objectives of the mission are to carry out high resolution mapping of the lunar topography in 3D, distribution of various minerals and elemental chemical species including radioactive nucleides covering the lunar surface using a set of remote sensing instruments. The new set of data would help in unravelling mysteries about the origin and evolution of solar system in general and that of moon in particular. The areas of study of the spacecraft include high resolution mineralogical and chemical imaging of permanently shadowed north and south polar regions. It would also search for surface, sub-surface water-ice on the moon, specially at lunar poles. Chandrayaan-I is expected to be shipped to Sriharikota by end of the month, where it will undergo further tests before the launch.
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India's Moon Mission May Lift Off October 19
New Delhi, India (PTI) Sep 19, 2008Weather permitting, India's maiden moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, may lift off Oct 19 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, scientists associated with the odyssey indicated Thursday. |
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