Scientists save India's moon mission from failure
July 17, 2009 By VIJAY JOSHI , Associated Press Writer
FILE - In this Sept. 18, 2008, file photo, India's first unmanned mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan 1 spacecraft is seen as it is unveiled at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Satellite Centre in Bangalore, India. India's maiden satellite orbiting the moon came close to total failure because of overheating but scientists made quickfixes to keep it going, and the mission is safe, officials said Friday. (AP Photo/File)
(AP) -- India's only satellite orbiting the moon came close to failure after overheating but scientists improvised to save it and have achieved more than 90 percent of the mission's objectives, an official said Friday.
The launch of Chandrayaan-1 in October 2008 put India in an elite group to have lunar missions along with the U.S., Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and China.
But on May 16, the satellite lost a critical instrument called the star sensor, the Indian Space Research Organization's chief Madhavan Nair told reporters.
The sensor helps the satellite stay oriented so its cameras and other recording equipment are constantly aimed at the lunar surface.
However, ISRO scientists were able to salvage the $80 million satellite within a week and resume normal operations by activating the satellite's gyroscope, which also gives satisfactory orientation, Nair said.
He said more than 90 percent of the two-year mission's objectives had already been achieved, and dismissed suggestions that the sensor's failure might reduce the life span of the spacecraft.
The "life (of the spacecraft) is not dependent on this instrument. This instrument is used only for orientation of the spacecraft," he said.
"The sensor cannot be recovered at this stage and we hope that the remaining part of this mission will be completed," he said.
Nair told the NDTV television network earlier the satellite came close to overheating and failing after it was put into orbit 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the moon.
"The entire spacecraft would have baked and would have been simply lost," Nair said.
As India's economy has boomed, it has sought to convert its newfound wealth - built on the nation's high-tech sector - into political and military clout.
Scientists hope the Chandrayaan project will boost India's capacity to build more efficient rockets and satellites, especially through miniaturization, and open research avenues for young Indian scientists.
India plans to follow the Chandrayaan, which means "moon craft" in Sanskrit, by landing a rover on the moon in 2011.
©2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
-
Europe all set for lunar mission Chandrayaan-1
Sep 25, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Chandrayaan-1 now in lunar orbit
Nov 10, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
India launches first commercial rocket
Apr 23, 2007 |
not rated yet |
0
-
India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft reaches its final orbit
Nov 13, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Chandrayaan-1 now in lunar transfer trajectory
Nov 05, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Engineers build first sub-10-nm carbon nanotube transistor
Feb 01, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (31) |
30
-
Something old, something new: Evolution and the structural divergence of duplicate genes
Jan 31, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
1
-
The hidden nanoworld of ice crystals: Revealing the dynamic behavior of quasi-liquid layers
Jan 30, 2012 |
5 / 5 (3) |
1
-
Stock market network reveals investor clustering
Jan 27, 2012 |
3.9 / 5 (23) |
8
-
Of microchemistry and molecules: Electronic microfluidic device synthesizes biocompatible probes
Jan 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
-
Never ending outer space.....
11 hours ago
-
Neutron Star fragments?
13 hours ago
-
stationary or not?
17 hours ago
-
Scale of the Universe
Feb 10, 2012
-
Titan's lack of impact craters
Feb 09, 2012
-
Real pictures of black hole eating a star?
Feb 08, 2012
- More from Physics Forums - General Astronomy
More news stories
Latin America mining boom clashes with conservation
Latin America is experiencing a mining boom as prices rise fuelled by a hike in global demand, but the region is also being hit by a wave of violent protests, strikes and rallies by environmentalists.
4 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Political leaders play key role in how worried Americans are by climate change: study
More than extreme weather events and the work of scientists, it is national political leaders who influence how much Americans worry about the threat of climate change, new research finds.
Feb 06, 2012 |
5 / 5 (6) |
72
NASA budget will axe Mars deal with Europe: scientists
US President Barack Obama's budget proposal to be submitted next week for 2013 will cut NASA's budget by 20 percent and eliminate a major partnership with Europe on Mars exploration, scientists said Thursday.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Feb 10, 2012 |
5 / 5 (3) |
55
Humans may have helped the decline of African rainforests 3000 years ago
(PhysOrg.com) -- Large areas of rainforests in Central Africa mysteriously disappeared over three thousand years ago, to be replaced by savannas. The prevailing theory has been that the cause was a change ...
High planetary tilt lowers odds for life?
Highly-tilted worlds would have extreme seasons, subjecting life to alternating periods of scorching and subzero temperatures. This could make the development of all but hardiest, simplest creatures a long ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Feb 06, 2012 |
4.8 / 5 (12) |
14
|
Google might launch Drive for cloud storage soon
(PhysOrg.com) -- Google's next big move, according to the Wall Street Journal, is a cloud storage service called Drive. Hardly first to the plate, Google is simply catching up to introducing its cloud reposi ...
Walney offshore wind farm is world's biggest (for now)
(PhysOrg.com) -- The Walney wind farm on the Irish Sea--characterized by high tides, waves and windy weather--officially opened this week. The farm is treated in the press as a very big deal as the Walney ...
Love a click away in Indonesia's Twitter Republic
He was a geeky kid from Yogyakarta, she a glamorous city girl in Jakarta. In a country with one of the world's most vibrant social networking scenes they fell in love on Twitter.
Europeans protest controversial Internet pact
Tens of thousands of people marched in protests in more than a dozen European cities Saturday against a controversial anti-online piracy pact that critics say could curtail Internet freedom.
Navy to begin tests on electromagnetic railgun prototype launcher
The Office of Naval Research (ONR)'s Electromagnetic (EM) Railgun program will take an important step forward in the coming weeks when the first industry railgun prototype launcher is tested at a facility ...
Explained: Sigma
It's a question that arises with virtually every major new finding in science or medicine: What makes a result reliable enough to be taken seriously? The answer has to do with statistical significance -- but ...