The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Chandrayaan for Sriharikota tomorrow

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Wednesday, Oct 01, 2008
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Chandrayaan for Sriharikota tomorrow

Divya Gandhi

‘It will have to go through a few more tests’

Window period for the launch remains October 20 to 28
ISRO favours Nov. 8 to place satellite in moon’s orbit

Bangalore: Chandrayaan, India’s first and much-anticipated lunar mission, will reach another milestone on October 2. The 1380-kg satellite will be transported from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Satellite Centre here to Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, where a PSLV launch vehicle will place it in an orbit around the moon.

Having completed a battery of endurance tests to gauge its capacity to withstand space environment – a thermal vacuum test, a vibration test and an acoustic test – Chandrayaan will have to go through a few more tests at Sriharikota to test its integrity after the trip, said M. Annadurai, Project Director for Chandrayaan.

Dr. Annadurai said that window period for the launch remained October 20 to 28.

“We are choosing a flexible launch window over a fixed date so that the vagaries of weather can be taken into account.”

However, the satellite only had two opportunities every month to capture the lunar orbit, he added. ISRO was looking at November 8 to place the satellite in the moon’s orbit, failing which Chandrayaan would have another opportunity on November 22.

On these two dates, the orbital planes of the spacecraft and that of the moon would intersect.

Between the date of the launch and the satellite capturing the lunar orbit, Chandrayaan would be in “parking orbit” which consumed little fuel, Dr. Annadurai said.

The lunar mission, with 11 experiments on board, will create a “mineral map” of the moon to gather information about material such as thorium and uranium. The mission also aims at bringing back clues about the origin of the moon, find evidence of water and capture the highest resolution pictures yet of the moon’s topography.

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