Bangalore: Did Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) goof-up when it announced that
Chandrayaan-1 would have a mission life of two years as none
of the lunar craft launched by other nations lasted that long?
On the hindsight, officials of the Bangalore-based
space agency admit that they probably did.
"No lunar spacecraft works for two years. We did a
mistake by telling it has a mission life of two years," an
official said on condition of anonymity, noting that lunar
craft of other countries had not lasted beyond 6-7 months.
"By saying it has a two-year life, we are caught in a
sticky situation," the official said.
Radio contact with the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft,
India`s maiden moon mission launched on October 22 last year,
was abruptly lost early yesterday, with project director M
Annadurai saying that the mission is now over.
"Ten months is a very good life. Mapping-wise
everything has been completed, except for a few patches," an
ISRO official said, referring to performance of Chandrayaan-1.
Officials said the antenna is being rotated in all
directions to pick up signals but admit "the chances are
slim".
Officials said "some catastrophic failure either in
transmitter or receiving systems" is the likely cause of the
snapping of radio link. "Majority of the electronic systems
are okay. Only communication system has failed", they said.
The situation could be compared to a switched-off
cellphone wherein incoming and outgoing communication cannot
happen, the official said.
Bureau Report
