CHANDRAYAAN-1 MISSION/CHANDRAYAAN MISSION India's first step in space

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INDIA is soon to touch the sky and reach the moon with INDIA"S first ever mission to land on moon in an humanless aircraft .The mission is started by a well known Indian government space organization "ISRO" ie "Indian Space And Reserch organization" and the first mission to moon is named as "CHANDRAYAAN-1",this mission is soon to take place .officially it was to take place in october 22 ,2008 by ISRO, as per the news sources. five years after the Indian government cleared the project. It will make an entry into the lunar atmosphere for a two-year mission.

It will be loaded with six Indian and five foreign scientific instruments.

It has overcome a major hurdle in the form of extreme temperature tests over the past fortnight. Now its launch is dependent on weather factors, said ISRO moon mission director Annadurai.

"Weather is a key issue. We are watching for forecasts closer to the tentative launch dates," Annadurai said. Chandrayaan-1 would take approximately eight days to course the nearly 386,000 km to get to its final orbit -- 100 km from the moon.



some of the basic prospectives of mission chandrayaan are given below(source ISRO):

Purpose of the Announcement of Opportunity (AO)

Through this First Announcement of Opportunity (AO) in the series, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) solicits Proposals from International and Indian Scientific Community for participating in the mission by providing suitable scientific payloads for Chandrayaan-1.

Chandrayaan-1: Mission Definition and Goal

Chardrayaan-1 is the first Indian Mission to the Moon devoted to high-resolution remote sensing of the lunar surface features in visible, near infrared, X-ray and low energy gamma ray regions. This will be accomplished using several payloads already selected for the mission. In addition a total of about 10 kg payload weight and 10 W power are earmarked for proposals, which are now solicited. The mission is proposed to be a lunar polar orbiter at an altitude of about 100 km and is planned to be launched by 2007-2008 using indigenous spacecraft and launch vehicle of ISRO. The mission is expected to have an operational life of about 2 years.

Mission Objectives

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 unravelling mysteries about the origin and evolution of solar system in general and that of the moon in particular.


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.

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 5 m resolution, to provide new insights in understanding the moon's origin and evolution