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30th Anniversary of The Planetary Society
  

Space Topics

Chandrayaan-1


NEWS: Contact was lost with Chandrayaan-1 on August 27 at 20:00 UTC.
The coming era in space exploration is proving to be one with increased interest in the Moon, with missions from ESA, China, Japan, India, and NASA. Perhaps the most international and most ambitious of these efforts was the Chandrayaan mission, launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Chandrayaan-1 (literally "Moon" + "Craft" in Hindi, together meaning "trip to the moon") was India's first mission to the Moon. The ISRO, founded in 1969, launched its first satellite in 1975 but had not yet sent a satellite beyond Earth's orbit.

The goals of this mission were both to expand ISRO's capabilities and to help resolve longstanding questions about the Moon's history. Chandrayaan-1 has deployed a powerful suite of instruments to map the lunar surface and search for the presence of radioactive isotopes, which will help researchers determine the origins of the Moon. The mission will also build up ISRO's ground support systems, communications systems, and data reception and interpretation systems, as well as increase India's technical and scientific capabilities.

Both of Chandrayaan-1's star sensors had failed as of July, 2009. When contact was lost, it had spent 312 days at the Moon, orbited more than 3,400 times, and returned more than 70,000 images, plus other data.

Chandrayaan-1 Facts
Launch date: October 22, 2008
Lunar orbit insertion: November 8, 2008
Last contact: August 27, 2009