Chandrayaan
Written by John Carl Villanueva
For a developing nation like India, launching a space mission like the Chandrayaan is a very impressive achievement. It was an unmanned lunar probe (the country's first) launched on October 2008. They're planning to attempt a second mission, which will be composed of a lunar orbiter and a rover, on 2012.
The official name of the 2008 lunar mission is Chandrayaan-1, while the one in 2012 will be dubbed Chandrayaan-2. Both missions are being undertaken by the Indian Space Research Organisation or ISRO.
The first Chandrayaan mission was made up of two main components: an orbiter and an impactor. Lunar orbit was achieved on November 8, 2008. Six days later, on November 14, the Moon Impact Probe was ejected, striking the Moon's south pole surface and allowing India to put its own flag on the lunar surface – the fourth country (after USA, Russia, and Japan) to do so.
The estimated cost of that project alone was about US$ 80 million. The sheer magnitude of that amount has drawn criticisms from some sectors in the country. As of 2005, 42% of India's population was below the World Bank's designated poverty line and still has one of the highest rates of underweight children in the planet.
Despite having only operated for 312 days, less than 50% of the original goal of two years, the Chandrayaan was able to achieve 95% of all its mission objectives. It lost radio communication on August 29, 2009.
Perhaps its biggest discovery was that of the presence of water molecules in the Moon's soil. This was detected through NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3). The presence of water bolsters the hope of putting up outposts there in the future.
In case you're wondering how a NASA device got to play a role on that mission, Chandrayaan-1 actually carried payloads from other space agencies like NASA, ESA, and the Bulgarian Aerospace Agency. The cost? Zero.
Findings made by the moon mineralogy mapper were able to validate the magma ocean hypothesis which suggested that the moon was originally molten.
About 70,000 images were obtained from that mission. Americans, except perhaps the conspiracy theorists, will be happy to know that the Chandrayaan was also able to provide images of the landing site of Apollo 15.
The Terrain Mapping Camera was able to take pictures of both peaks and craters. In the past, the Moon was believed to be made largely of craters.
Here's an article about the Chandrayaan water findings here in Universe Today. Still more images from Chandrayaan-1.
Chandrayaan-1 has its own official website. Click on that link to find first hand information.
There are some interesting episodes from Astronomy Cast that we'd like to recommend:
The Source of Atmospheres, the Vanishing Moon, and a Glow After Sunset
Filed under: Astronomy
Related stories on Universe Today
- Manueuver Puts Chandrayaan in Deep Space
- Podcast: The Moon, Part 1
- Chandrayaan-1 Almost There, UPDATE 11/12
- India's Chandrayaan-1 On Its Way to the Moon
- Chandrayaan-1 Tests Out Camera; Target: Earth
