Mission to Moon- Chandrayaan I

[Arul Murugan]

This is divine part.....

INVOKING DIVINE INTERVENTION

Prayer at Moon temple for Chandrayaan

V Mayilvaganan | TNN

Thanjavur: Chandrayaan may be pure science. But people in this small village called Thingalur, near Tiruvaiyar, 20 kilometres from Thanjavur are not willing to take any chances. They performed special poojas at the temple, dedicated to Chandra Bhagavan (Moon god), praying for the success of Chandrayaan’s entry into the Moon’s orbit on Saturday. And, when news flashed on television channels about Chandrayaan”s entry into the moon orbit, Thingalur and the temple priests cheered the hardest.
“The scientists have trust in science and their skill. We have trust in the Almighty,” said V Kannan, an official of the temple on the rationale behind seeking the God’s blessing for Chandrayaan’s success, the result of several years’ of effort by scientists. “We do not undermine the abilities of our scientists. It is really a big achievement and a great honour for our country. But the Almighty is above science,” he pointed out.
The priests of the temple in the Sri Kailasanathar Temple, where a shrine dedicated to Lord Chandran is located, conducted special poojas invoking his blessings for safety and successful completion of the moon mission. Nowhere else in the state is there an exclusive temple for Chandran. Similar prayers were also conducted a fortnight ago when Chandrayaan took off from Sriharikota. In the evening, when the news of the spacecraft successfully entering the moon’s orbit reached the temple officials and priests, they cheered along with scientists at the ISRO.
According to legend, Chandran had been struck by a debilitating illness. It was after Chandran offered prayers to Lord Kailasanathar at the Thingalur temple that he was saved from the fatal disease. In turn he was ordered by Lord Shiva to remain in the temple and give relief to all those suffering from diseases. Hence, people who are ill and those affected by adverse position of Chandran in their horoscope offer prayers in the temple.

From TOI

[barrykul]

Chandrayaan: orbital height reduced

CHENNAI: After successfully accomplishing the most crucial and tricky manoeuvre of safely inserting Chandrayaan-1 into the lunar orbit on Saturday, the Indian Space Research Organisation on Sunday executed the first manoeuvre of reducing the orbital height of the spacecraft around the moon. While on Saturday, Chandrayaan-1 reached the lunar orbit with an aposelene (farthest point from the moon) of 7,502 km and a periselene (nearest point from the moon) of 504 km, the periselene was reduced to 200 km on Sunday. The aposelene continues at 7,500 km. The periselene was reduced by giving commands to the engine on board Chandrayaan-1 to fire for about a minute from 8.03 p.m.
More manoeuvres

Three more manoeuvres of reducing both the aposelene and periselene will be done in the coming days. This includes the manoeuvre of putting Chandrayaan-1 in the final circular orbit of 100 km above the moon on November 15. After this is done, ISRO will command the spacecraft to eject its Moon Impact Probe on the same day.

The Moon Impact Probe, with the Indian flag painted on its sides, will crash-land on the moon.

Then the remaining 10 scientific instruments will be switched on, one after another.

The Terrain Mapping Camera, an Indian scientific instrument, has already been switched on. It has taken clear pictures of the earth and the moon.

[Illusionist]

First Lunar Orbit Reduction Manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1 Successfully Carried Out
http://isro.org/pressrelease/Nov10_2008.htm

November 10, 2008

The first orbit reduction manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft which is orbiting the moon, was successfully performed yesterday (November 9, 2008) night. As part of that manoeuvre which began at 20:03 IST, the 440 Newton liquid engine of the spacecraft was fired for about 57 seconds. With this, the nearest point of Chandrayaan-1’s orbit (periselene) from the moon’s surface was reduced from 504 km to 200 km while the farthest point (aposelene) remained unchanged at 7,502 km. In this elliptical orbit, Chandrayaan-1 takes about ten and a half hours to circle the moon once.

It may be recalled that the lunar orbit insertion manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1 was successfully performed on November 8, 2008 and the spacecraft entered into an orbit around the moon with a periselene of 504 km and an aposelene of 7,502 km.

The health as well as the orbit of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft is being closely monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bangalore with crucial support from Indian Deep Space Network antennas at Byalalu. The spacecraft performance is normal.

Further orbit reduction manoeuvres are scheduled in the coming days to take Chandrayaan-1 to its final operational orbit of 100 km height from the lunar surface. After this, the Moon Impact Probe, one of the eleven scientific instruments (payloads) of Chandrayaan-1, will be released to hit the moon’s surface.

[Into_salem]

Nice Explanation. Thanks. BTW why can't the final LO at 50km/50km or less instead of 100Km/100Km. Any specific reason.

[Prashasth]

Well, maybe that could be the least possible distance before any object is sucked into the gravitational field of the moon ?

[Into_salem]

Seems logical. Thanks

[scdubagoor]

Originally Posted by Into_salem

Nice Explanation. Thanks. BTW why can't the final LO at 50km/50km or less instead of 100Km/100Km. Any specific reason.

INTERESTING FACT:

For orbits around the Moon or Planets , the necessary orbital speed varies
in accordance with the orbital height above the surface, and, with the
mass of the Moon or Planet. The bigger the planetary mass, the higher the
speed needed to remain in orbit. The higher the orbital altitude , the
lower the speed required to maintain that orbit. Typical figures are :-

...........................................Velecocity (Kms/sec)
Height(Kms)####Moon####Mars####Earth####Jupiter
250..................1.57.........3.43........ 7.75.........42.05
1000..................1.34.........3.12.........7.35........41.83
10000..................0.65........1.79.........4.93........39.45

Source: ftp://ftp.amsat.org/amsat/articles/satgen/sgen315.txt

[Into_salem]

Originally Posted by scdubagoor

INTERESTING FACT:

For orbits around the Moon or Planets , the necessary orbital speed varies
in accordance with the orbital height above the surface, and, with the
mass of the Moon or Planet. The bigger the planetary mass, the higher the
speed needed to remain in orbit. The higher the orbital altitude , the
lower the speed required to maintain that orbit. Typical figures are :-

...........................................Velecocity (Kms/sec)
Height(Kms)####Moon####Mars####Earth####Jupiter
250..................1.57.........3.43........ 7.75.........42.05
1000..................1.34.........3.12.........7.35........41.83
10000..................0.65........1.79.........4.93........39.45

Source: ftp://ftp.amsat.org/amsat/articles/satgen/sgen315.txt

That sums up clearly. Thanks scdubagoor

[barrykul]

Chandrayaan nudged closer to moon

BANGALORE: India's first unmanned lunar mission Chandrayaan-I was nudged closer to the moon late Monday in a second orbit-reduction manoeuvre, a top Indian space official said.

The manoeuvre lasted 866 seconds.

"The spacecraft is at 187 km from the moon (periselene) and 255 km away (aposelene), orbiting elliptically once in every 2 hours and 16 minutes over the polar regions of the lunar planet," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) director S. Satish told IANS.

The liquid engine onboard the spacecraft was remotely fired for 14.4 minutes from 9.58 p.m. to 22.12 p.m. IST by the ISRO scientists from the spacecraft control centre at its telemetry, tracking and command network (Istrac) here.

The space agency's deep space network (DSN) at Byalalu, about 40 km from India's tech hub, coordinated the complex manoeuvre with the support of ground stations. Signals to and from the spacecraft were excellent, the official said.

"The complex exercise enabled Chandrayaan to move swiftly from 7,500 km aposelene late Sunday to 255 km, which is a remarkable feat. All sub-systems and instruments onboard are functioning satisfactorily," Satish said.

The scientists also observed the motion of the spacecraft after the manoeuvre for a short distance to extrapolate its orbital path.

Chandrayaan-I will undergo two more orbit-lowering manoeuvres over the next two days to enter into its designated slot of 100 x 100km from the lunar surface for a two-year rendezvous with the moon.

ISRO plans to eject the moon impact probe Nov 14-15 from the spacecraft and crash it onto the lunar surface at a designated area, where the Indian tri-colour will be 'hoisted'.

Chandrayaan carries 11 scientific instruments, including six foreign payloads-two from the US, three from the European Space Agency (ESA) and one from Bulgaria. The remaining five are indigenously designed and developed by various centres of the state-run ISRO.

The spacecraft was blasted off Oct 22 onboard the 316-tonne Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C11) from the Satish Dhawan space centre at Sriharikota spaceport, about 80 km north of Chennai.

[senthil1409]

Moon as viewed from a distance of 311200 Km. Taken on Nov 4th. We were reading all about this in the media, without any picture. Here it is now. I wonder what took ISRO a longer time than usual?

[barrykul]

Chandrayaan-1 gets further closer to moon

Bangalore (PTI): Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft on Tuesday moved closer to the Moon with ISRO scientists carrying out orbit reduction manoeuvre at 18:30 hours for a duration of 31 seconds.

"The current orbit of Chandrayaan-1 is 255.3 km (the farthest distance from the moon) X 101.3 km (nearest distance to the moon). The orbital period is 2.09 hours", ISRO spokesperson S Satish told PTI.

Further manoeuvres are planned in the coming days to bring the spacecraft to its final circular orbit of 100 kms above the moon's surface, Satish said.

[Arasu]

A great achievement by Indian scientists and a proud moment for all its citizens.

[Illusionist]

wow finally an image of moon from chandrayaan. I wonder why is it not so clear. is it the distance from which it is taken or something else?
hope to see more pics from cy soon.

[senthil1409]

Yeah, the picture was taken 311200Km from the moon, when the spacecraft was leaving earth's gravity.

[Into_salem]

CHENNAI: One more firing of the engine on board Chandrayaan-1 on Tuesday evening reduced its periselene (nearest distance to the moon) from 187 km to 101 km. The firing of the engine lasted 31 seconds from 6.30 p.m.

The spacecraft has now an aposelene (farthest distance from the moon) of 255 km and a periselene of 101 km. In this orbit, Chandrayaan-1, takes two hours and nine minutes to go round the moon once.

All sub-systems on board the spacecraft were working well, a spokesman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said from Bangalore.

On Wednesday evening, the Spacecraft Control Centre (SCC) at Bangalore will issue commands to the spacecraft’s engine, called the Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM), for reducing its aposelene from 255 km to 100 km. (It is powered by liquid propellants). When it is done successfully, the spacecraft will be in its final circular orbit of 100 km above the moon.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/11/12/stor...1261331200.htm

[Fusionist]

a look back and a better launch video..



ps. the DD camera man need to be sacked and these noobs be given the job.. atleast they had better commonsense.

[Into_salem]

Though coverage was nice, It looks the launch was a failure. What was this project.

[Illusionist]

It is not a failure. it is PSLV which delivered chandrayaan.
if you thought that the rocket was falling then it is just an illusion, it is infact making a turn to change the trajectory.

[Sridhar]

Into_Salem,

I can see why you might think this was a failure... it may appear that the vehicle is not going straight up. But the fact is that because the earth is curved, the trajectory for the vehicle is also not vertically upwards. Most spacecraft are injected in an elliptical (sometimes circular or near-circular) orbit by the launch vehicle. Look at the launch videos of any launcher and they will look like this.

Fusionist,

There was no video by DD cameramen. There were ISRO static and tracking cameras that were used in the DD feed. The tracking camera automatically tracked the vessel - when it was obscured by clouds, it continued to track the vehicle so that when it broke out of the low clouds, the camera was there to capture it. There was no human involved and the cameras were programmed well in advance. They could have positioned a cameraman on the mainland to capture a long-shot view of the launch, but in good weather, the ISRO cameras capture the launch much better.

[Sridhar]

BTW, ISRO should learn how to name missions better in future. Instead of CY, it could have named the series as "Soma". Easier for everyone around the world to pronounce and remember and equally descriptive of the mission. The Soviet lunar missions were simply named Luna with a numeric suffix. Apollo is similarly easy to pronounce and remember. The name for the ISRO satellite that will study the Sun is Aditya - better than Chandrayaan. Could have been crisper (why not Surya, for instance) but will do.