Chandrayaan 1 - India's First Mission To Moon

Chandrayaan
I (Lunar
Craft),
is an unmanned lunar exploration mission by the Indian Space Research
Organization (ISRO). The mission includes a lunar orbiter as well as an
impactor. The spacecraft will be launched by a modified version of the
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

The
remote sensing satellite will
weigh 1304 kg (590 kg initial orbit mass and 504 kg dry mass) and carry
high resolution remote sensing equipment for visible, near infrared,
soft and hard X-ray frequencies. Over a two-year period, it is intended
to survey the lunar surface to produce a complete map of its chemical
characteristics and 3-dimensional topography. The polar regions are of
special interest, as they might contain water ice.

The
ISRO has identified Mylswamy
Annadurai as Project Chief.

The
spacecraft is scheduled for
launch on October 22 with a window fixed between October 19 and October
28.

They
estimate the cost to be INR 3.8
billion (US$ 83 million).

The
mission includes five ISRO
payloads and six payloads from other international space agencies such
as NASA and ESA, and the Bulgarian Aerospace Agency.

Summary

Organization	Indian Space Research Organization
Mission type	Orbiter
Satellite of	Moon
Launch date	22nd October 2008 from Sriharikota, AP, India
Launch vehicle	Modified Version Of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle [PSLV-XL]
Mission duration	2 years
NSSDC ID	CHANDRYN1
Mass	523 kg
Power	750 W
Orbital elements
Eccentricity	near circular
Apoapsis	initial 1000 km

Scientific Objectives

The Chandrayaan- 1 mission is aimed at high-resolution remote sensing of the moon in visible, near infrared(NIR) , low energy X-rays and high-energy X-ray regions. Specifically the objectives will be

To prepare a three-dimensional atlas (with a high spatial and altitude resolution of 5-10m) of both near and far side of the moon. To conduct chemical and mineralogical mapping of the entire lunar surface for distribution of elements such as Magnesium, Aluminum, Silicon, Calcium, Iron and Titanium with a spatial resolution of about 25 km and high atomic number elements such as Radon, Uranium & Thorium with a spatial resolution of about 20 km.

Simultaneous photo geological
and
chemical mapping will enable identification of different geological
units, which will test the early evolutionary history of the moon and
help in determining the nature and stratigraphy of the lunar crust.

Mission Objectives

To
launch and orbit a spacecraft in
lunar polar orbit and conduct scientific studies.

To
carry out high resolution mapping
of topographic features in 3D, distribution of various minerals and
elemental chemical species including radioactive nuclides covering the
entire lunar surface using a set of remote sensing payloads. The new
set of data would help in unraveling mysteries about the origin and
evolution of solar system in general and that of the moon in particular
or on its composition and mineralogy.

Realize
the mission goal of
harnessing the science payloads, lunar craft and the launch vehicle
with suitable ground support system including DSN station, integration
and testing, launching and achieving lunar orbit of ~100 km, in-orbit
operation of experiments, communication/ telecommand, telemetry data
reception, quick look data and archival for scientific utilization by
identified group of scientists.

Mission Sequence The spacecraft would be launched by PSLV-C11 in a highly elliptical transfer orbit with perigee of about 240 km and an apogee of about 24,000 km. Later, the spacecraft would be raised to moon rendezvous orbit by multiple in-plane perigee maneuvers. These maneuvers would help to achieve the required 3,86,000 km apogee of the Lunar Transfer Trajectory (LTT). After a quick estimate of the achieved LTT a mid-course correction will be imparted at the earliest opportunity. The spacecraft coasts for about five and a half days in this trajectory prior to the lunar encounter. The major maneuver of the mission, called Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) that leads to lunar capture, would be carried out at the peri-selene (nearest point in lunar orbit) leading to successful lunar capture in a polar, near circular 1000 km-altitude orbit. After successful capture and health checks, the altitude is planned to be lowered through a series of in-plane corrections to achieve the target altitude of 100 km circular polar orbit.

Specific Areas of Study

High
resolution mineralogical and chemical imaging of permanently shadowed
north and south polar regions

Search
for surface or sub-surface
water-ice on the moon, specially at lunar pole

Identification
of chemical end
members of lunar high land rocks

Chemical
stratigraphy of lunar
crust by remote sensing of central upland of large lunar craters, South
Pole Aitken Region (SPAR) etc., where interior material may be expected

To
map the height variation of the
lunar surface features along the satellite track

Observation
of X-ray spectrum
greater than 10 keV and stereographic coverage of most of the moon's
surface with 5m resolution, to provide new insights in understanding
the moon's origin and evolution.

The Spacecraft - Description. Spacecraft for lunar mission is : Cuboid in shape of approximately 1.50 m side. Weighing 1304 kg at launch and 590 kg at lunar orbit. Accommodates eleven science payloads. 3-axis stabilized spacecraft using two star sensors, gyros and four reaction wheels. The power generation would be through a canted single-sided solar array to provide required power during all phases of the mission. This deployable solar array consisting of a single panel generates 700W of peak power. Solar array along with yoke would be stowed on the south deck of the spacecraft in the launch phase. During eclipse spacecraft will be powered by Lithium ion (Li-Ion) batteries. After deployment the solar panel plane is canted by 30º to the spacecraft pitch axis. The spacecraft employs a X-band, 0.7m diameter parabolic antenna for payload data transmission. The antenna employs a dual gimbal mechanism to track the earth station when the spacecraft is in lunar orbit. The spacecraft uses a bipropellant integrated propulsion system to reach lunar orbit as well as orbit and attitude maintenance while orbiting the moon. The propulsion system carries required propellant for a mission life of 2 years, with adequate margin. The Telemetry, Tracking & Command (TTC) communication is in S-band frequency. The scientific payload data transmission is in X-band frequency.. The spacecraft has three Solid State Recorders (SSRs) on board to record data from various payloads. SSR-1 will store science payload data and has capability of storing 32Gb data. SSR-2 will store science payload data along with spacecraft attitude information (gyro and star sensor), satellite house keeping and other auxiliary data. The storing capacity of SSR-2 is 8Gb. M3 (Moon Mineralogy Mapper) payload has an independent SSR with 10Gb capacity.

GROUND SEGMENT FOR CHANDRAYAAN- 1 MISSION

Ground Segment for Chandrayaan- 1 comprises three major elements viz. Deep Space Station (DSN), Spacecraft Control Center (SCC) and Indian Space Science Data Center (ISSDC). This trio of ground facility ensures the success of the mission by providing to and fro conduit of communication, securing good health of the spacecraft, maintaining the orbit and attitude to the requirements of the mission and conducting payload operations.The ground segment is also responsible for making the science data available for the Technologists / Scientists along with auxiliary information, in addition to storage of payload and spacecraft data.

Ground Segment for Chandrayaan- 1

Payload

The
scientific payload has a total
mass of 90 kg and contains six Indian instruments and six foreign
instruments.

• The Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC)
  has 5 m resolution and a 40 km swath in the panchromatic band and will
  be used to produce a high-resolution map of the Moon.

• The Hyper Spectral Imager
  (HySI)
  will perform mineralogical mapping in the 400-900 nm band with a
  spectral resolution of 15 nm and a spatial resolution of 80 m.

• The Lunar Laser Ranging
  Instrument (LLRI) will determine the surface topography.

• An X-ray fluorescence spectrometer C1XS
  covering 1- 10 keV with a ground resolution of 25 km
  and a Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM)
  to detect solar flux in the 1–10 keV range. C1XS will be used to map
  the abundance of Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, and Fe at the surface, and will
  monitor the solar flux. This payload is a collaboration between
  Rutherford Appleton laboratory, U.K, ESA and ISRO.

• A High Energy X-ray/gamma ray
  spectrometer (HEX) for 30- 200 keV measurements with ground
  resolution of 40 km, the HEX will measure U, Th, ²¹⁰Pb, ²²²Rn
  degassing, and other radioactive elements
• Moon Impact probe(MIP)
  developed by ISRO is in turn a small satellite that will be carried by
  Chandrayaan- 1 and will be ejected once it reaches 100 km orbit around
  moon, to impact on the moon. MIP carries three more instruments namely,
  a high resolution mass spectrometer, an S-Band altimeter and a video
  camera. The MIP also carries with it a picture of the Indian flag, it's
  presence marking as only the fourth nation to place a flag on the moon
  after Russia, United States and Japan.

• Among foreign payloads, The
  Sub-keV Atom Reflecting Analyzer (SARA) from ESA will map
  composition using low energy neutral atoms sputtered from the surface.

• The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3)
  from Brown University and JPL (funded by NASA) is an imaging
  spectrometer designed to map the surface mineral composition.

• A near infrared spectrometer
  (SIR-2)
  from ESA, built at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research,
  Polish Academy of Science and University of Bergen, will also map the
  mineral composition using an infrared grating spectrometer. The
  instrument will be similar to that of the Smart-1 SIR.

• S-band miniSAR from the
  APL
  at the Johns Hopkins University (funded by NASA) is the active SAR
  system to map lunar polar ice. The instrument will transmit right
  polarized radiation with a frequency of 2.5 GHz and will monitor the
  scattered left and right polarized radiation. The Fresnel reflectivity
  and the cicular polarization ratio (CPR) are the key parameters deduced
  from this measurments. Ice shows the Coherent Backscatter Opposition
  Effect which results in an enhancement of refelections and CPR. With
  the data the water content of the moon polar region can estimated..

• Radiation Dose Monitor
  (RADOM-7) from Bulgaria is to map the radiation environment around the
  moon.

Launch Vehicle - Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) built its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in the early 90s. The 45 m tall PSLV with a lift-off mass of 295 tonne, had its maiden success on October 15, 1994 when it launched India's IRS-P2 remote sensing satellite into a Polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) of 820 km. Between 1996 and 2005, it has launched six more Indian Remote Sensing satellites as well as HAMSAT, a micro satellite built by ISRO for amateur radio communications into polar SSOs, one Indian meteorological satellite into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). During this period, PSLV has also launched four satellites from abroad (TUBSAT and DLR-Bird from Germany, Proba from Belgium and KITSAT from Republic of Korea) as piggyback payloads into polar SSOs. Thus, PSLV has emerged as ISRO's workhorse launch vehicle and proved its reliability and versatility by scoring eight consecutive successes between 1994-2005 periods in launching multiple payloads to both SSO as well as GTO. The first Indian moon mission is proposed to be a lunar polar orbiter at an altitude of about 100 km from the lunar surface. Considering the maturity of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) demonstrated through PSLV-C4/KALPANA- 1 mission, PSLV is chosen for the first lunar mission. The upgraded version of PSLV viz., PSLV-C11 which has a liftoff weight of 316 tonnes, will be used to inject 1304 kg mass spacecraft at 240 x 24,000 km orbit and the corresponding spacecraft mass is 590kg when the target lunar orbit of 100 km is achieved.. Participating Groups The following ISRO Centres are participating in the Chandrayaan Mission -1 1. ISRO Headquarters, Bangalore, India 2. ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bangalore, India 3. Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, India 4. Space Application Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad, India 5. ISRO Telemetry , Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bangalore, India 6. Laboratory for Electro Optic Systems (LEOS), Bangalore, India 7. Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, India 8. Space Physics Laboratory (SPL), VSSC, Thiruvananthapuram, India 9.. National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), Hyderabad, India 10. Liquid Propulsion Systems Center (LPSC) Bangalore & Mahendragiri, India 11. ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU),Thiruvananth apuram, India International Groups participating in Chandrayaan Mission -1 are 12. Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK 13. Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy, Lindau,Germany 14. Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna, Sweden 15. Solar-Terrestrial Influences Laboratory, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria 16. Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety, France 17. Nuclear Physics Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, Czechoslovakia 18. Applied Physics Lab, Johns Hopkins University, MD, USA 19. Naval Air Warfare Centre, Chinalake, CA, USA 20. Brown University, USA 21. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA 22. Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements, Toulouse, France 23. University of Helsinki, Finland

Chandrayaan II

ISRO is also
planning a second version of Chandrayaan named: Chandrayaan II.
According to ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair, "The Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) hopes to land a motorised rover on the moon in 2010
or 2011, as a part of its second Chandrayaan mission. The rover will be
designed to move on wheels on the lunar surface, pick up samples of
soil or rocks, do in situ chemical analysis and send the data to the
mother-spacecraft Chandrayaan II, which will be orbiting above.
Chandrayaan II will transmit the data to the ground. We are trying to
conceive an experiment in which the system will land on the lunar
surface, move around and pick up samples, do their chemical analysis
and transmit the data back to the ground."

On
12-11-2007 representatives of the
Russian Federal Space Agency and ISRO signed an agreement for the two
agencies to work together on the Chandrayaan II project.

Chandrayaan
II will consist of the
spacecraft itself and a landing platform with the moon rover. The
platform with the rover will detach from the orbiter after the
spacecraft reaches its orbit above the moon, and land on lunar soil.
Then the rover will roll out of the platform. Mylswamy Annadurai,
Project Director, Chandrayaan I, said: "Chandrayaan II will carry a
semi-hard or soft-landing system. A motorised rover will be released on
the moon's surface from the lander. The location for the lander will be
identified using Chandrayaan I data."

The
rover will weigh between 30 kg
and 100 kg, depending on whether it is to do a semi-hard landing or
soft landing. The rover will have an operating life-span of a month. It
will run predominantly on solar power. Launch Date - 2010/2011

NASA LUNAR BASE

According
to Ben Bussey, senior staff
scientist at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in
Laurel, Maryland, Chandrayaan' s imagery will be used to decide the
future Moon Base that NASA has recently announced. Bussey told
SPACE.com, "India's Chandrayaan- 1 lunar orbiter has a good shot at
further identifying possible water ice-laden spots with a U.S.-provided
low-power imaging radar, Bussey advised--one of two U.S. experiments on
the Indian Moon probe. The idea is that we find regions of interest
with Chandrayaan- 1 radar. We would investigate those using all the
capabilities of the radar on NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter,
Bussey added, a Moon probe to be launched late in 2008." The launch
date for the LRO has since been delayed to February 2009.