Mission Slated For 2007 or 2008

When India launches its first-ever unmanned moon mission, it will carry payloads for the European Space Agency and NASA, according to the country's space agency.

“The payload from ESA that would weigh 30 kg will include a multi-spectrometer and a particle detector,” Indian Satellite Research Organization (ISRO) chairman Dr. G. Madhavan Nair told reporters at an international conferences on Planetary Exploration and Space Law. He was speaking in Bangalore, India.

“ISRO has already received a number of proposals from international agencies including NASA. Deliberations are on and the payload will be finalized shortly,” he said.

The ESA will contribute to the mission:

• A low energy (0.5-10 keV) X-ray spectrometer called Chandrayaan Imaging X-Ray Spectrometer from Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK, to measure elemental abundance distributed over the lunar surface using X-ray fluorescence technique. It will also include X-ray solar monitor to record the incident solar X-ray flux.
• Near Infra-Red (IR) Spectrometer from Max Planck Institute of Aeronomie, Germany, to detect and measure lunar mineral abundances.
• Sub keV Atom Reflecting Analyzer from Swedish Institute of Space Physics, developed in collaboration with India, to measure volatiles generated due to solar wind impacting on lunar surface and determine the surface magnetic field anomalies.
• Europe will also contribute to the Indian experiment, namely, High Energy X-ray Spectrometer.

The European instruments will complement the following main Indian experiments on Chandrayaan-1:

• Terrain Mapping Camera with stereo imaging capability operating in panchromatic band with 5 meter spatial resolution and 20 km swath.
• A Hyper-Spectral Imager operating in 400-900 nm band with a spectral resolution of 15 nm, a spatial resolution of 80 meter and 20 km swath.
• A Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument with a vertical resolution of better than 5 meter.
• A High Energy X-ray (10-250 keV) spectrometer with a footprint of 20 km to detect radio nuclei.
• In addition, an Impact Probe has been included in the mission for proving technological elements required for future landing missions.

  

Chandrayaan-1 is planned for launch by 2007-08 on board India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. The 525 kg satellite will be placed in 100 km polar orbit around the moon and it will have a life time of two years.

FMI: www.isro.org