Chandrayaan-1 | Universe Today

Written by Tega Jessa

The Chandrayaan-1 is a lunar probe that was lauched by the Indian Space Research Organization. This is India's equivalent to the US LCROSS. The launch occurred in October 2008 and the probe reached the Moon and began its tasks in November 2008. The probe represented a huge leap in India's space programs as the probe was funded and researched by India with only a few foreign parts used in the fabrication of the probe. This makes India one of three Asian nations funding its own space research. It is a part of the small pool of national and supranational bodies with the resources and technological know how to make it possible.

When you think about this major feat for Indian Aeronautics you actually realize that it is not surprising since it is a nuclear nation that independently developed its own Nuclear arsenal. Like other fledgling space programs a lot of the technology needed was developed from its own military capabilities.

The Chandrayaan-1 has been in operation since August, 2009 when the Indian Space Research Organization lost contact with it. The probe was built to achieve a set of specific goals for India's space program. First, was to build a space craft of Indian manufacture that could successfully reach and orbit the moon. The next couple of goals was to perform various experiments and observations of the moon. Among them was the scanning of the lunar surface in order to make a three dimensional map of the near and far sides of the Moon as well as test landings of probes for future lunar missions. It also did some very important scans of the Moon's mineral and element make up. One of its biggest discoveries was the confirmation of a molten Moon in ancient times which would confirm that it formed in a similar manner to the Earth.

The probe was initially supposed to be commisioned for two years but the Indian Space Research Organization lost contact with the probe. One of the hypothesis was that the craft was subjected to unusually high levels of radiation that fried its communications array. The craft will now orbit the moon for another 1000 days before finally crashing to the lunar surface.

Despite the disappointing ending to its mission, the Chandrayaan-1 was a major leap in space research proving that more and more countries are developing the research and more importantly the desire to explore space. Similar advances could prove beneficial and may spur another peaceful space race giving more nations the impetus to expand current research and make new breakthroughs.

If you enjoyed this article there are others on Universe Today that you will definitely enjoy. There is a great article about the ISRO losing contact with Chandrayaan-1. There is also a great article about another incident when the probe was rescued failure.

There are also great resources on the net if you want to learn more. The ISRO website for Chandrayaan 1 is a great source information. There is also great article about it on the NASA website.

You can also check out Astronomy Cast. Episode 114, The Moon Part 2, talks about exploration of the moon.

Filed under: Astronomy

Tags: Chandrayaan, Chandrayaan-1, ISRO, Missions