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India to go to moon, and beyond: The Asian Age
Ahmedabad, Oct 26: The Indian Space research Organisation`s Chandrayan-1 mission to the moon in 2008 will be the forerunner of more ambitious planetary missions, including landing robots on the moon and visits by Indian spacecraft to other planets in the solar system, Isro chairman G. Madhavan Nair has said.
Ahmedabad, Oct 26: The Indian Space research Organisation’s Chandrayan-1 mission to the moon in 2008 will be the forerunner of more ambitious planetary missions, including landing robots on the moon and visits by Indian spacecraft to other planets in the solar system, Isro chairman G. Madhavan Nair has said.
Mr Nair was in the city along with ex-chairman K. Kasturirangan recently to attend a high-level meeting on the moon mission. Speaking to The Asian Age, the Isro chairman said India’s aspirations to send about 35 missions into space in the next five years, including a voyage to the moon, will help the nation attain a leap forward, but there are no plans to send an astronaut into space.
"Isro has sent 35 missions into space during the last 25 years. And we plan to achieve the same feat in the next five years. Specific satellites for education, tele-medicine, Internet connectivity and disaster management are scheduled to be sent in the next five years," Mr Nair said. Indian scientists are banking on the Chandrayan-1 mission because it will be the first time that an Indian spacecraft will journey into deep space and they feel it will provide a unique opportunity for frontier scientific research, Mr Nair said. India’s space programme has been running since 1972, but a mission to the moon would be its first venture into deep space. "We plan to complete the mission in the next five years," he said. The Chandrayan-1 mission envisages placing a 525-kg satellite in a polar orbit 100 km above the moon. This will help obtain imagery of the moon’s surface using high-resolution remote sensing instruments in the visible, near infrared, low and high-energy X-ray regions. Considering the interest expressed by the international scientific community, a provision has also been made to accommodate instruments from other countries. Expected to cost about $82.5 million, the spacecraft is expected to be ready for launch by 2008.
The payload for the mission is being developed at the Thaltej Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad. PRL is currently conducting research and tests on various equipment, like gamma-ray sensors, x-ray sensors, spectrometers and very high resolution cameras for mapping the moon surface, which are to be included in the payload of the moon mission, a PRL scientist said on condition of anonymity. Mr Nair added that after the Centre’s recent approval, Isro is working on regulation cameras to be installed in Chandrayan-1. Mr Nair specified that Isro does not need to send an astronaut in space as it would not help in conducting studies in space. "The machines we are sending in our payloads are enough for our studies," he maintained.
Answering a question on Isro’s apprehensions about the mission, Mr Nair said, "So far, India has successfully placed a satellite up to 36,000 km from earth. The moon is 3.5 lakh km from the earth. Our challenge will be to send the satellite up to 3.5 lakh km, halt it a few km from the moon, make it orbit the moon and ensure that signals are transmitted from that far to earth." Mr Nair said India’s moon mission is quite different from those of the US and Russia. "They had sent astronauts to the moon, collected samples from the moon and had come back. However, the Indian mission will be to send a satellite to orbit the moon and map the entire surface of the moon. Our studies would be different and thorough," he said.
"Isro has sent 35 missions into space during the last 25 years. And we plan to achieve the same feat in the next five years. Specific satellites for education, tele-medicine, Internet connectivity and disaster management are scheduled to be sent in the next five years," Mr Nair said. Indian scientists are banking on the Chandrayan-1 mission because it will be the first time that an Indian spacecraft will journey into deep space and they feel it will provide a unique opportunity for frontier scientific research, Mr Nair said. India’s space programme has been running since 1972, but a mission to the moon would be its first venture into deep space. "We plan to complete the mission in the next five years," he said. The Chandrayan-1 mission envisages placing a 525-kg satellite in a polar orbit 100 km above the moon. This will help obtain imagery of the moon’s surface using high-resolution remote sensing instruments in the visible, near infrared, low and high-energy X-ray regions. Considering the interest expressed by the international scientific community, a provision has also been made to accommodate instruments from other countries. Expected to cost about $82.5 million, the spacecraft is expected to be ready for launch by 2008.
The payload for the mission is being developed at the Thaltej Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad. PRL is currently conducting research and tests on various equipment, like gamma-ray sensors, x-ray sensors, spectrometers and very high resolution cameras for mapping the moon surface, which are to be included in the payload of the moon mission, a PRL scientist said on condition of anonymity. Mr Nair added that after the Centre’s recent approval, Isro is working on regulation cameras to be installed in Chandrayan-1. Mr Nair specified that Isro does not need to send an astronaut in space as it would not help in conducting studies in space. "The machines we are sending in our payloads are enough for our studies," he maintained.
Answering a question on Isro’s apprehensions about the mission, Mr Nair said, "So far, India has successfully placed a satellite up to 36,000 km from earth. The moon is 3.5 lakh km from the earth. Our challenge will be to send the satellite up to 3.5 lakh km, halt it a few km from the moon, make it orbit the moon and ensure that signals are transmitted from that far to earth." Mr Nair said India’s moon mission is quite different from those of the US and Russia. "They had sent astronauts to the moon, collected samples from the moon and had come back. However, the Indian mission will be to send a satellite to orbit the moon and map the entire surface of the moon. Our studies would be different and thorough," he said.