Chandrayaan Mission Thread

[Notebook]

Thanks, I hadn't realised it was going into a polar orbit, so that diagram was a surprise

N.

 

[thomasantony]

Hey,
I have been a bit busy these past days. Anyway, Chandrayaan doesn't care about that and has gone on to a higher orbit. Now its in a 465km x 267000km orbit. Almost there.

The TLI will be sometime on November 8, when the orbit will be raised to 384000km, and then LOI sometime around November 14th.

October 29, 2008 : The fourth orbit raising manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was carried out today (October 29, 2008) morning at 07:38 am IST. During this manoeuvre, the spacecraft’s 440 Newton liquid engine was fired for about three minutes. With this, Chandrayaan-1 entered into a more elliptical orbit whose apogee (farthest point to Earth) lies at 267,000 km (two lakh sixty seven thousand km) while the perigee (nearest point to Earth) lies at 465 km. Thus, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft’s present orbit extends more than half the way to moon. In this orbit, the spacecraft takes about six days to go round the Earth once.

The health of the spacecraft is being continuously monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bangalore with support from Indian Deep Space Network antennas at Byalalu. All systems onboard the spacecraft are performing normally. One more orbit raising manoeuvre is scheduled to send the spacecraft to the vicinity of the moon at a distance of about 384,000 km from the Earth.

http://isro.org/pressrelease/Oct29_2008.htm

~
Thomas

 

[astrosammy]

Many probes go to the moon this way (many TLI burns slightly rising the Orbit until it reaches moon). Strange that the heavy Apollo made it with only one direct TLI...

 

[tblaxland]

Many probes go to the moon this way (many TLI burns slightly rising the Orbit until it reaches moon). Strange that the heavy Apollo made it with only one direct TLI...

Probes have a luxury of time that homo-sapiens don't have due to all the life support systems we require. Also, a minimum energy intercept with the Moon does not offer any opportunities for a free return.

 

[SiberianTiger]

 

[thomasantony]

Yup. The first pictures are coming through from Chandrayaan.
http://www.isro.org/pressrelease/Oct31_2008.htm

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Terrain Mapping camera (TMC) on board Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was successfully operated on October 29, 2008 through a series of commands issued from the Spacecraft Control Centre of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Bangalore. Analysis of the first imagery received by the Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu and later processed by Indian Space Science Data Centre (ISSDC) confirms excellent performance of the camera.The first imagery (image 1) taken at 8:00 am IST from a height of 9,000 km shows the Northern coast of Australia while the other (image 2) taken at 12:30 pm from a height of 70,000 km shows Australia’s Southern Coast. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]TMC is one of the eleven scientific instruments (payloads) of Chandrayaan-1. The camera can take black and white pictures of an object by recording the visible light reflected from it. The instrument has a resolution of about 5 metres. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Besides TMC, the other four Indian payloads of Chandrayaan-1 are the Hyper spectral Imager (HySI), Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI), High Energy X-ray Spectrometer (HEX) and the Moon Impact Probe (MIP). The other six payloads of Chandrayaan-1 are from abroad. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] It may be recalled that the 1380 kg Chandrayaan-1 was successfully launched into an initial elliptical orbit around the Earth by PSLV-C11 on October 22, 2008. This was followed by four orbit raising manoeuvres, which together raised Chandrayaan-1’s orbit to a much higher altitude. The spacecraft is now circling the Earth in an orbit whose apogee (farthest point to Earth) lies at 267,000 km (Two lakh sixty seven thousand km) and perigee (nearest point to Earth) at 465 km. In this orbit, Chandrayaan-1 takes about six days to go round the Earth once. The spacecraft performance is being continuously monitored and is normal.

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[SiberianTiger]

thomasantony,

Would you explain what is "two lakh sixty seven thousand km" ?

 

[tblaxland]

Would you explain what is "two lakh sixty seven thousand km" ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakh:

A lakh (also written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; 10^5).

 

[thomasantony]

Two lakh sixty seven thousand = Two hundred and sixty seven thousand.

10 lakhs = 1 million.

 

[thomasantony]

Chandrayaan-1 enters Lunar Transfer Trajectory

Hey,
TLI is done. TI was successful. Chandrayaan is now on a trans-lunar trajectory. God Speed!! :speakcool:

The fifth and final orbit raising manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was successfully carried out today (November 4, 2008) morning at 04:56 am IST. During this manoeuvre, the spacecraft’s 440 Newton liquid engine was fired for about two and a half minutes. With this, Chandrayaan-1 entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory with an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of about 380,000 km (three lakh eighty thousand km).

The health of the spacecraft is being continuously monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bangalore with support from Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) antennas at Byalalu. Since its launch on October 22 by PSLV-C11, all systems onboard Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft are performing normally. Chandrayaan-1 will approach the Moon on November 8, 2008 and the spacecraft’s liquid engine will be fired again to insert the spacecraft into lunar orbit.

~
Thomas

 

[thomasantony]

Chandrayaan Enters Lunar Orbit

Its in Lunar Orbit!! WOO!!

Chandrayaan-1, India’s first unmanned spacecraft mission to moon, entered lunar orbit today (November 8, 2008). This is the first time that an Indian built spacecraft has broken away from the Earth’s gravitational field and reached the moon. This historic event occurred following the firing of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft’s liquid engine at 16:51 IST for a duration of 817 seconds. The highly complex ‘lunar orbit insertion manoeuvre’ was performed from Chandrayaan-1 Spacecraft Control Centre of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network at Bangalore.
Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu supported the crucial task of transmitting commands and continuously monitoring this vital event with two dish antennas, one measuring 18 m and the other 32 m.

Chandrayaan-1’s liquid engine was fired when the spacecraft passed at a distance of about 500 km from the moon to reduce its velocity to enable lunar gravity to capture it into an orbit around the moon. The spacecraft is now orbiting the moon in an elliptical orbit that passes over the polar regions of the moon. The nearest point of this orbit (periselene) lies at a distance of about 504 km from the moon’s surface while the farthest point (aposelene) lies at about 7502 km. Chandrayaan-1 takes about 11 hours to go round the moon once in this orbit.

The performance of all the systems onboard Chandrayaan-1 is normal. In the coming days, the height of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft’s orbit around the moon will be carefully reduced in steps to achieve a final polar orbit of about 100 km height from the moon’s surface. Following this, the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) of the spacecraft will be released to hit the lunar surface. Later, the other scientific instruments will be turned ON sequentially leading to the normal phase of the mission.


It may be recalled that Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was launched on October 22, 2008 by PSLV-C11 from India’s spaceport at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. As intended, PSLV placed the spacecraft in a highly oval shaped orbit with a perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 255 km and an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 22,860 km. In the past two weeks, the liquid engine of Chandrayaan-1 has been successfully fired five times at opportune moments to increase the apogee height, first to 37,900 km, then to 74,715 km, later to 164,600 km, after that to 267,000 km and finally to 380,000km, as planned. During this period, the Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC), one of the eleven payloads (scientific instruments) of the spacecraft, was successfully operated twice to take the pictures, first of the Earth, and then moon.

With today’s successful manoeuvre, India becomes the fifth country to send a spacecraft to Moon. The other countries, which have sent spacecraft to Moon, are the United States, former Soviet Union, Japan and China. Besides, the European Space Agency (ESA), a consortium of 17 countries, has also sent a spacecraft to moon.

:speakcool:

 

[FordPrefect]

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Waaaiiit a moment...

Is this an official publication by the Indian Space Agency? That image is false, it needs to be mirrored!!! You can see the northwestern part of Australia, but it is flipped! The sun needs to shine from the left, like in the first picture. Uh oh, I hope this doesn't tell anything about the scientists working on this project. :mellow:

 

[Notebook]

BBC Report:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7718015.stm

N.

 

[Jarvitä]

Waaaiiit a moment...

Is this an official publication by the Indian Space Agency? That image is false, it needs to be mirrored!!! You can see the northwestern part of Australia, but it is flipped! The sun needs to shine from the left, like in the first picture. Uh oh, I hope this doesn't tell anything about the scientists working on this project. :mellow:

Note the viewpoint (red arrow on map) and satellite altitude (9000 km in first picture, 70000km in the second). It makes perfect sense.

 

[FordPrefect]

Note the viewpoint (red arrow on map) and satellite altitude (9000 km in first picture, 70000km in the second). It makes perfect sense.

No.
Take a look at the image below. The big inset shows a screenshot from WorldWind. Compare that with the coastline in the small inset which I had mirrored from the original image!

 

[tblaxland]

Congrats on LOI!

@FP, well picked!

 

[thomasantony]

Chandrayaan reaches operational Lunar orbit

http://isro.org/pressrelease/Nov12_2008.htm
Oh yea!! We got there!
:speakcool:

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Today, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft has successfully reached its intended operational orbit at a height of about 100 km from the lunar surface. This followed a series of three orbit reduction manoeuvres conducted during the past three days by repeatedly firing the spacecraft’s 440 Newton Liquid Engine. As part of these manoeuvres, the engine was fired for a cumulative duration of about sixteen minutes. As a result of these manoeuvres, the farthest point of Chandrayaan-1’s orbit (aposelene) from the moon’s surface was first reduced from 7,502 km to 255 km and finally to 100 km while the nearest point (periselene) was reduced from 200 km to 182 km and finally to 100 km. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]With this, the carefully planned complex sequence of operations to carry Chandrayaan-1 from its initial Earth orbit to its intended operational lunar orbit with the use of its liquid engine has been successfully completed. During these operations, Chandrayaan-1’s liquid engine built by Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), Thiruvananthapuram, has been fired a total of ten times successfully. In its present operational orbit, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft takes about two hours to go round the moon once. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]From this operational circular orbit of about 100 km height passing over the polar regions of the moon, it is intended to conduct chemical, mineralogical and photo geological mapping of the moon with Chandrayaan-1’s 11 scientific instruments (payloads). Two of those 11 payloads – Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC) and Radiation Dose Monitor (RADOM) – have already been successfully switched ON. TMC has successfully taken the pictures of Earth and moon. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The next major event of Chandrayaan-1 mission planned in the coming days is the release of Moon Impact Probe (MIP) from the spacecraft and its eventual hitting of the moon’s surface. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]It may be recalled that after its successful launch by PSLV-C11 on October 22 into an initial Earth orbit, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft proceeded towards moon and successfully entered into an elliptical orbit around that celestial body on November 8, 2008. Since its launch, the spacecraft’s health and orbit have been continuously monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) with critical support from antennas of Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu. [/FONT]

 

[SiberianTiger]

Is the landing spot for the impartor's landing already selected?

 

[thomasantony]

The MIP impacted a few minutes ago on the rim of the Shackleton crater.

 

[SiberianTiger]

The MIP impacted a few minutes ago on the rim of the Shackleton crater.

Congratulations! What kind of data are expected to come from it?