India blasted into the international space race Wednesday with the successful launch of an ambitious two-year mission to study the moon’s landscape.
The unmanned lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-1, or “moon craft†in ancient Sanskrit, launched at 6:20 a.m. (8:50 p.m. ET) from the Sriharikota space center in southern India.
As India’s first spacecraft mission beyond earth orbit, Chandrayaan is aimed at expanding our knowledge about earth’s only natural satellite - moon. Orbiting about 100 km from the lunar surface, the spacecraft will perform remote sensing of moon for about two years using 11 scientific payloads, including five instruments designed and developed indigenously.
To date, only the U.S. Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and China have sent missions to the moon.
Some Quick facts:
Mission Timeline
Launch date:October22, 2008
Journey to the Moon: Five-and-a-half day geotransfer orbit
Nominal mission: Two years
About the spacecraft
The craft will be cube shapes, with a length of 1.5 meters on each side and a total mass of 1,050 kilograms.
The satellite’s design is based on ISRO’s Kalpansat meteorological satellite, launched in 2002. It will also carry a 30-kilogram probe that will penetrate the lunar surface.
A 750-Watt solar panel together with a Lithium-Ion battery will supply power to the spacecraft. A bipropellant engine will be employed to enter orbit and to maintain the spacecraft’s orbit at the Moon.
The total mission cost is Rs3.8 billion.
