chandrayana

Chandrayana-I

Lunar Exploration

Chandra (moon) is the only natural satellite of the earth. Moon revolves around the earth. The earth spins around its imaginary axis once in 24 hours.  But moon does not spin like earth; its only half surface always faces earth and other half of moon is invisible. In Hindu mythology, moon is considered as lover of Shiva and Shiva has adorned Chandra on his head.

Man has been keen to explore the details of moon since ancient times. Science and technology were not advanced, much could not be done. Lunar exploration got leap during twentieth century. Excellent launch vehicles were developed, sophisticated instruments were available and communication technology advanced. An Italian astronomer, Galileo invented a powerful telescope and observed mountains and craters on the moon surface.

First lunar mission of erstwhile USSR, Luna-1 was in 1959. Till 1976, they sent 24 missions i.e. Luna-24. First man-made object to reach moon was in Luna-2 in September 1959.  Luna-9 was first mission to soft-land on moon. It transmitted pictures of the moon surface. However, USSR could not land its man on moon.

USA also commenced its lunar mission in 1959. Their first mission was Pioneer-4 on March 3, 1959. Then started their missions in the series of Ranger-1 to Ranger-9, Surveyor-1 to Surveyor-7 and next was Apollo series. Neil Armstrong, Commander of Apollo-11 mission of USA was the first man to walk on moon on July 20, 1969. Till now, last man to walk on moon was Eugene Cernan in Apollo-17 in December 1972. Moon samples were brought to earth by three Russian missions (Luna-16, 20, 24) and USA missions Apollo-11, 12, 14 and 17. Explorer-49 and Clementine were also USA missions.

Japan  sent its two missions, Lunar-A and Selene in 2007.

European Space Agency sent its mission to moon, Smart-1 during 2003.

China sent moon mission Change-e on October 24, 2007.

So far, five countries in the world undertook missions to moon. They are USSR (present Russia), USA, Japan, ESA and China. So far, there have been 67 missions from various countries.

Chandrayana-I

Chandrayana-I is India’s first moon mission and 68^th internationally. Atal Behari Vajapayee when he was Prime Minister encouraged the scientists to plan mission to moon. Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, former chief of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is considered as the father of the country’s lunar program. India’s first moon mission christened as Chandrayana-I was chalked out in 2004. Its launch was scheduled on October 22, 2008 at6.22 am.

Launch Vehicles of ISRO

ISRO began indigenous space program on February 22, 1969, when they launched a pencil rocket, a few feet long and weighing 10 kg from Tumba, near Thiruvanthapuram. Since then, ISRO has been sending satellites into the space to orbit around the earth. So far, ISRO has sent 26 satellites:

      1.   SLV- 3 E 1…………..August 10, 1979    -    fail

      2.   SLV- 3 E 2…………...July 18, 1980        - successful

      3.   SLV- 3 D 1…………   May 31, 1981       - successful

      4.   SLV- 3 D 2…………...April 17, 1983      - successful

      5.   ASLV- D 1 ……………March 24, 1987   - fail

      6.   ASLV- D 2 ……………July 13, 1988       - fail

      7.   ASLV- D 3 …………    May 20, 1992      - successful

      8.   PSLV- D 1 ……………September, 1993 - fail

      9.   ASLV- D 4 …………..  MAY 4, 1994        - successful

     10.  PSLV- D 2…………….October 15, 1994 – successful

     11.  PSLV- D 3……………..March 21, 1996   - successful

     12.  PSLV- C 1 ……………..Sept. 29, 1997      - successful

     13.  PSLV- C 2……………...May 26, 1999,      - successful

     14.  GSLV- D 1…………….April 18, 2001       - successful

     15.  PSLV- C3 ……………..OCT.22, 2001       - successful

     16.  PSLV- C4 ……………...Sept. 12, 2002      - successful

     17.  GSLV- D2……………...May 8, 2003         - successful

     18.  PSLV- C5………………Oct. 17, 2003       - successful

     19.  GSLV-F1 ………………Sept.20, 2004       - successful

     20.   PSLV-C6………………May 5, 2005         - successful

     21.   GSLV-F2………………July 10, 2006        - successful

     22.  PSLV- C7……………….Jan.1 2007           - successful

     23.  PSLV- C8……………….April 23, 2007     - successful

     24.  GSLV- F4……………..Sept.2, 2007        - successful

     25.  PSLV- C9……………  Jan. 21, 2008       - successful

     26.  PSLV- C10……………April 28, 2008     - successful

Out of 26 satellites launched, four launches had failed in the initial period. Learning from the failure, ISRO could develop successfully their own launch vehicles like GSLV and PSLV. Till 1982, India had no satellite connection. After starting launching of satellites, 90% of our country got radio and TV connection. As on today there are more than 46 satellites of India in the sky and we are getting information on agriculture, forestry, irrigation, revenue, natural calamities and many other data from the satellites.

Launch vehicle for Chandrayana-I

ISRO chose PSLV-C11 which they termed PSLV-XL (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) for launching Chandrayana-I moon mission. PSLV-XL, an upgraded version of the existing one was 44.4 meters tall, four stage launch vehicle weighing 316 tones. It was more powerful than the ordinary PSLV, equipped with six extra long strap-on booster motors. Each strap-on was 13.5 meter long and each loaded with 12.4 tones of solid propellants as against 10 meter long strap-ons and each 9 tones propellant in standard version.

PSLV-XL after many tests moved to the launch tower 70 meter high. It took about two hours to shift on hydraulic bogie to launch site on October 18, after all checks. Before the lift-off, routine checks were carried. The first and the third stages of PSLV-XL consisted of solid propellants. Solid propellants are pre-cast separately. The second and fourth stages consisted of liquid propellants filled at last. A leak in the liquid propellant servicing facility on the ground was observed. The leak had nothing to do with the launch vehicle as it was remotely controlled facility. It was corrected. Other activities like filling of pressurants and gases were carried on. The cost of PSLV-XL is estimated Rs 100 crore.

Antarix Corporation

Antarix Corporation is ISRO’s commercial wing which has earned Rs 900 crore from commercial satellite launches and sale of remote sensing data during last financial year and its revenues are growing at 25%. India has launched 16 satellites of other countries so far and a few were on the anvil. Commercial launches add to the earnings of ISRO.

Spacecraft

Spacecraft named as Chandryana-I was cube-shaped of about 1.5 mtr side length. It weighed 1380 kg including 818 kg of fuel. Scientists after they put their heads together straddling number of calculations and combinations to design, this spacecraft had emerged from the drawing board. It had a single solar array to generate power. The equipment was housed in a closed room at ISRO’s satellite centre in Bangalore wrapped in golden colour foil which are Multi-Layer Insulation (MLI) blankets.

The spacecraft carried 12 scientific payloads out of which six payloads are Indian  including MIP and six international payloads, three from European Space Agency, two from NASA of US and one from Bulgaria, totally weighing 80 kg. Payloads of India included 29 kg Moon Impact Probe which was included at the instance of former President, APJ Abdul Kalam. The payloads contain various instruments covering a wide range of radio, microwave, infrared, UV, X-rays and Gamma rays equipments and synthetic aperture radar to search water below the moon surface. Moon Impact Probe is provided with a camera, altimeter and mass-spectrometer.

After freezing the design, scientists got down to prepare it. By September, it was ready in flight mode. The spacecraft had to undergo several crucial tests to assess if it could sustain hostile environment while encircling the moon for two years

Thermovac test was done to emulate the spacecraft’s strength against temperatures. The spacecraft was lowered into a chamber with temperature extremes to do this test.

Vibration test was conducted by placing the spacecraft on a table and vibrating like an actual launch.

Acoustic test was performed by simulating roar of four jet planes simultaneously to see if the instruments survive the blast of the launch. It may be mentioned that a few years ago, when a few cows which accidentally strayed into launch zone, had gone deaf because of the sound and fury of the take-off.

The spacecraft had scored full marks in all these tests.

The spacecraft had to generate power through single-sided solar array attached to it. The solar array with light-sensitive cells would generate 700 watts during peak period. During eclipse, spacecraft would be powered by lithium batteries.

Chandrayana-I was also equipped with various other things like thrusters which would execute fuel burns to alter the trajectory whenever needed. It had an internal measurement unit consisting of accelometers and gyroscopes to measure the altitude or direction. Besides, there was thermal management system to protect it from excessive heat. The design of the spacecraft was so advanced that the flight controllers on the earth could instruct to bring a back-up on line if there was a technical hitch. It had three solid state recorders (SSRs) on board to record data from various payloads. While SSR-I would store science payload data, SSR-II would carry altitude information, satellite housekeeping and auxiliary payload data. The Moon Mineralogy Map per had an independent SSR.

October 22, 2008

India’s first moon mission, Chandrayana-I was scheduled to be launched on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at 6.22 am from  Satish Dhavan Space Centre (SDSC) at Shriharikota. The launch date was fixed considering weather conditions. During October, the moon inclination will be at 28 degrees towards earth which would be most suitable for the mission. Scientists felt weather looked good, rains would not be a problem and only sudden depression or cyclone in the Bay of Bengal might lead to postponing the date of launch.

The spacecraft fully equipped with payloads, passing through all the tests was transported to Sriharikota, loaded with fuel and accommodated on the launch vehicle. The assembly of launch vehicle was erected on the launch-pad and strap-on motors and the four stages of PSLV-XL were loaded with the propellants. Every thing was ready by October 20 morning when 49 hours count-down began.

Scientists were praying God to bless good weather to go ahead with the launch as scheduled on October 22 morning. But the weather was playing hide and seek game. On Tuesday evening, the sky was covered with dark black clouds with lightening and thundering. Ten hours time was lost looking at the sky. Scientists had lost the hope of the launch as scheduled. Nobody knew what miracle happened; the program of launch took a dramatic turn.

At 5.30 am on Wednesday, one hour was left for the launch, scientists were still anxious about the weather.

At 5.50 am the ears of scientists suddenly stood up to hear the announcement of the control room ‘All weather parameters are within the launch criteria.’

At 6.00 am, control room boomed, ‘Weather briefing is normal’. Wave of smile flashed on the faces of the scientists.

At 6.06 am, suspense and excitement built up and the launch team said, all systems are ready for the flight. Mission director said, ‘Launch operations for mission authorized,’

At 6.10 am, automatic launch system was initiated.

At 6.21 am, the count down moved rapidly. 30 seconds were left for the launch; on-board computers went into flight mode.

At 6.22 am, the county down hit zero, rocket thunder bursts were heard.

Thus the built-up to the lift-off was peppered with naïf-biting climax. As the weather looked set to spoil the moon party, scientists were tense edgy. This is an account of the last 60 minutes to India’s blast-off into Club-Moon.

Journey of Chandrayana-I

A warm send off was given to Chandrayana-I at 6.22 am on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 from Satish Dhavan Space Centre at Sriharikota. PSLV-XL of Chandrayana-I carried on four stage operation. In the first stage, strap-ons were ignited and they separated from the launch vehicle.  Second stage is liquid propellant stage when the satellite moved at a slight inclination. After third and fourth stages, the satellite was in earth’s orbit.  The entire operation was completed in 1089 seconds and the spacecraft was 23,000 km away from the earth at the farthest point. Chairman of ISRO, Madhavan Nayar announced its safe send-off, after 18 minutes after launch. PSLV-XL did its job perfectly to take Chandrayana-I to outer space and place it in the elliptical orbit of perigee (closest point to the earth) of 255 km and apogee (farthest point to the earth) of 22860 km. In this initial orbit, Chandrayana-I take about six-and-half hour to orbit the earth.

One day after the launch, the first orbit-raising maneuvers of Chandrayana-I was performed at 9.00 am IST on Thursday at ISTRAC (ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network), Peenya, Bangalore which guides the spacecraft to the moon. The orbit raising maneuver was affected when the spacecraft’s 440 Newton Liquid Engine was fired for about 18 minutes by commanding the spacecraft from Spacecraft Control Centre (SCC) of ISTRAC. With this firing, Chandrayana-I’s apogee was raised to 37,900 km and perigee was 305km. In this orbit the spacecraft would take 11 hours to go round the earth once.

Later, with second orbit-raising maneuver fired from the ISTRAC, the spacecraft was raised to 75,000 km height, a distance no ISRO satellite had ever reached before. Madhavan Nayar was jubilant and exclaimed, “            It is historic occasion for us. We have reached exactly double the distance we have traveled so far.

The third orbit-raising maneuver was exercised on Sunday, October 26, at 7.08 IST by firing 440 Newton Liquid Engine for about nine and half minutes and the Chandrayana-I reached a height of 1,64,000 km apogee while the perigee remained 348 km and it takes 73 hours to go round the earth once. The spacecraft had already covered 40% distance on the way to moon, but it was still within the earth’s gravitational pull. The spacecraft has to attain a velocity of 11 km per second to escape from it. Now the Chandrayana-I went into the deep space i.e. above one lakh kilometer from the earth.

The fourth orbit-raising maneuver was carried out on Wednesday, October 29, at 7.38 am for three minutes when Chandrayana-I entered into an elliptical orbit at an apogee of 2,67,000 km and perigee of 465 km. It would take six days in this orbit to fly around earth once. The Deep Space Network antennae at Byalalu, 40 km from Bangalore was supporting the mission. Onboard systems were found performing normally.

The fifth and final orbit-raising maneuver was performed on Tuesday, November 4, at 4.56 am at ISTRAC for two and half minutes. Chandrayana-I entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory with an apogee of about 3,80,000 km. Now the spacecraft was just a few hundred kilometers from the moon.

Lunar Orbit Insertion

On Saturday, November 8, 5 to 6 pm Chandrayana-I was expected to complete its journey of 3,80,000 km and would be in the zone of lunar gravitational force. Gravitational force of moon is about 1/6^th of that of the earth. The spacecraft had to be harnessed to adapt to the lunar orbit. If this not done properly, the spacecraft would overshoot the zone and go astray into the space and would be untraceable. So, this period of one hour was crucial for ISRO scientists and they had to undertake the firing during this hour to ensure alignment of spacecraft’ speed with the moon’s gravitational force. On Saturday evening, the moon was expected to be closest to the spacecraft and it was the best time to inject the spacecraft into the lunar orbit. This hour was said to be crucial because 50% of the lunar missions of the US and former Soviet Union had failed because of a problem during Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI). Commands including that for LOI had to be flashed in the form of digital message by processing the same by a computer and transmitted to the spacecraft by pressing the return key in the keyboard. The process for sending command for orbit-raising maneuver and that for LOI were similar with which ISRO was already familiar. However, ISRO scientists were alert and confident to make history by sending the spacecraft into the orbit of moon.

Successful Execution of LOI by ISRO

On Saturday, at 4.51 pm, Chandrayana-I was about to enter into moon’s gravity. ISRO scientists were crowded at control centre in Peenya, Bangalore tracking its movements every nanosecond.  They carried out the lunar orbit insertion by firing liquid engines on board the spacecraft for 817 seconds beginning at 4.51 pm. This maneuver reduced the velocity of the spacecraft to enable lunar gravity to capture it into an orbit around the moon. Soon, the spacecraft entered the lunar orbit in a sharp finish. 20 minutes before, the hearts of the scientists were at standstill. India did the job perfectly in the maiden effort where at least 50% of the unmanned moon missions launched by the US and former Soviet Union had failed at this make-or-break lunar orbit threshold. ISTRAC with the support of Indian Deep Space Network (DSN) at Byalalu had achieved this success by transmitting commands and continuously monitoring the vital event.

India became one of six countries to send a spacecraft to moon. Other five countries are the US, former USSR, Japan, China and ESA.

After a journey of about 3,80,000 km, on 18^th day from the day of launch, Ghandrayana-I was inserted into lunar orbit and now it is placed in a 7502 km x 500 km elliptical orbit passing over the poles of the moon around the moon. In next 8 days, Chandrayana-I would be lowered gradually and placed in a circular orbit at a distance of 100 km from lunar surface. Once it settles down at that distance, Moon Impact Probe (MIP) would be released from the spacecraft to land on the lunar surface. Once MIP lands, all the instruments on board Chandrayana-I would be activated.

After Chandrayana-I  entered into the zone of lunar gravitational forces and after LOI maneuver was conducted, the spacecraft was moving around the moon in an elliptical orbit 504x7502 km size on Saturday, November 8, evening.

On Sunday at 8.03 pm, orbit reduction maneuver was performed to lower the orbit with Periselene (nearest point from moon) of 200 km and Aposelene (farthest point from moon) of 7502 km (no change).

A series of three orbit reduction maneuvers for a total period of 16 minutes was performed during three days; by November 12  Chandrayana-I reached successfully  its intended operational circular orbit at a height of 100 km from the lunar surface. It was a historic day in India’s space odyssey.

The spacecraft was revolving around moon in a circular orbit passing over moon’s Polar Regions taking 2 hours to go round the moon. Two of the eleven payloads on board the spacecraft i.e. Terrain Mapping Camera and Radiation Dose Monitor were switched on and pictures of earth and moon were being received

 ISRO has had many firsts to its credit like building own satellite, launch vehicle, launching from own launch-pad, and Recovery Experiment of satellite apart the moon mission which is a major event itself. All these have been possible because entire ISRO team is dedicated and hardworking. As regards competence, ISRO is on par with rest of the world and proved India is as good as any other country in space. India did not interact extensively with any particular agency foe know-how.

Moon Impact Probe

Out of twelve payloads on board spacecraft, six are Indian and the remaining six are of different countries. One of the six Indian payloads is Moon Impact Probe (MIP) which is going to be placed on moon surface. Initially, MIP was not part of the project which was inducted at the instance of ex-president APJ Abdul Kalam who is a missile scientist. MIP was developed by the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre at Tiruvananthapuram. Its weight is 29 kg and its dimensions are 375x375x470 mm. It carries three instruments;

• Radar Altimeter to measure the altitude of MIP above the lunar surface and help in developing technology for future landing missions.
• Video imaging system to acquire images of the moon’s surface.
• Mass Spectrometer for measuring the constituents of the lunar atmosphere.

When MIP crash-lands on the moon, it will kick up dust. Mass Spectrometer gathers scientific details from the dust and send back to the earth.

The spacecraft after settling in the circular orbit above 100 km from the moon surface, space control centre of ISTRAC gives command to it to eject MIP to go down to the moon surface which will take about 25 minutes to land at the designated place.

Indian tricolor flag is engraved on metallic badge on the sidewall of MIP which will remain on the lunar surface as a symbolic representation of India’s presence on the moon.`

The MIP was released from the spacecraft at 8.06 pm IST on Friday, November 14 and it landed at designated area in the zone of South Pole of the moon. Based on the signals from the altimeter,, it was confirmed that the MIP took exactly 25 minutes to land on the moon i.e. at 8.31 pm. The camera on MIP took pictures and sent them to Chandrayana-I. The spacecraft which was behind the moon at that time could not release these images to ISTRAC immediately but stored the data. The 6x4 inch tricolor Indian flag painted on the sides of the MIP confirmed symbolic entry of the country into the moon.

This great event was witnessed by the team of ISRO scientists including the former chairman U.R.Rao, present chairman Madhavan Nayar and ex-president on India APJ Abdul Kalam whose brain child MIP was. Probe was expected to qualify some of the technologies related to future soft landing missions. India became the fourth nation in the world to touch the moon.

Deep Sace Network

ISRO has set up Deep Space Network (DSN) to receive and command Chandrayana-I when latter travel beyond one lakh kilometers at Byalalu.

Byalalu is 32 km from Bangalore on Mysore road. Thirteen teams of ISRO checked several villages around Bangalore before selecting Byalalu. They did a thorough noise survey and blockage study and confirmed there was no natural terrain blocking its view at Byalalu. When the antennae is pointed towards the spacecraft, there should be no tall building or any structure blocking signals. The study confirmed a clear view.

Electronic Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) manufactured antenna for DSN. Once DSN starts receiving signals from spacecraft, it will keep track of every movement of it for two years. Very few countries including the US and Russia have this kind of antennae. ECIL manufactured and deployed DSN in record time. The antenna is 32 meters diameter. Another antenna of 18 meter diameter is also set up to receive signals from lesser distances. DSN is biggest in India. It can withstand wind speed up to 150 km per hour. It shuts off radiation automatically. Its cost is about Rs 65 crore. The antenna is revolving very slowly at a speed of 0.1 degree per second. Its movement can not be noticed by an observer. Only in four years, ISRO scientist had developed DSN. Satellite of Japan, ‘Salena’ was detected with DSN.

Now the Chandrayana-I embraced moon by entering into lunar orbit flawlessly, all eyes of ISRO scientists were fixed on ISTRAC at Peenya and DSN at Byalalu. Two more maneuvers, one to send Chandrayana-I down to lower circular orbit and another to eject MIP from the spacecraft to land on moon were also successfully performed. Next two years, ISRO scientists were eager to reap the crop of data that they were hungry of, from DSN.

S.K.Sivakumar

S.K.Shivakumar, director ISTRAC played key role in the moon mission. Every single maneuver of Chandrayana-I came out of ISTRAC control room which he looked after. It was his job to check there was not a single slip in the spacecraft trajectory. He was actively involved in moon mission right from its conception, building own spacecraft, its integration with our own launch vehicle including the launch and ensuring its safe crossing the earth etc.

55 years aged Shivakumar has been functioning as eyes and ears of ISRO since last 32 years. Responsibility of keeping a watch on the movements of satellite rests on his shoulders. So far he has had taken care of about 50 satellites, now he took care of moon mission. The antenna he is using for his task is DSN which Shivakumar and his team took only four years to develop.

Shivakumar is B.Sc., B.E., M.Tech. His wife, Girija is teaching Chemistry in a college. The couple has two daughters, who are also in engineering profession. We are proud that Shivakumar is Indian and particularly, a Kannadiga. We take privilege to congratulate Shivakumar on his success.

Cost of Chandrayana-I mission

For Chandrayana mission ISRO had spent Rs 380 crore which is about half the price of a Jumbo Jet. This is just 4 % of ISRO’s budget for last three years. Cost of similar mission by NASA or any other space agency would be five times more. How could ISRO be so economical? Their chairman Madhavan Nayar explained, “There are some tests the Americans would have done six times, we did only thrice. It may be calculated risk, but we have been successful with this approach so far. More than 30% of the subsystem that went into this mission was used by us in other operations. The PSLV of this mission was almost similar to that of our earlier missions except six enhanced strap-on motors with 12 ton solid propellant as against nine ton used earlier. On the whole we exercised economy by optimizing the tests and procedures and saved a lot. NASA’s annual budget is $ 20 billion as against ours $ 1 billion i.e. Rs 5000 crore which is almost equal IPL deal.”

Further, Antarix Commercial Corporation, ISRO’s commercial wing has earnt Rs 900 crore by commercial launches and sale of remote sensing data during last financial year. The revenues are growing at 25 %. The ISRO is not a white elephant.

Objectives of Chandrayana-I

Some people in certain section of the society opined that in India, crores of people are below poverty line; luxurious spending huge sum for Chandrayana-I was wasteful expenditure, moreover many countries have already done such an exercise and it was unnecessary for India to repeat the same. Other section of people felt that it is a tradition in India though the parents are starving of hunger; they spend their hard earned income for the welfare of their children. Similarly, to take care of our future generation is the responsibility of the present generation. Expenditure of Rs 386 crore on Chandrayana-I is not a waste but it is our investment for our future generation.

To unravel the origin and evolution of the moon is one of the objectives of this mission.

To understand mineralogy and abundance of Helium-3 is another objective. The mission has direct bearing on our lives. If the mission were to confirm the presence of Helium-3 on the moon, it could spur new research of this isotope and its mining on the moon. Helium-3 is seen as the future source of energy. It is understood, there are one million tones of Helium-3 under one meter depth of moon’s surface. India requires only two tones of Helium every year to meet the entire energy requirements.  The mission is doing the crucial task in confirming its presence. If confirmed, it calls for advanced research for its extraction and transportation from moon’s surface. Also, research will have to be conducted for its conversion to energy.

Search for water ice is also a precursor to ISRO’s plans of manned mission.

Sriharikota

Sriharikota was once the home of Yanadi tribals and paradise for ornithologists. Today it is a busy, world-class seaport with several launch vehicles, every year rackets are being launched. Situated about 100 km from Chennai, Sriharikota is an island that lies in the Bay of Bengal in the east coast of India.

Eucalyptus and Casuarinas groves and scrub jungles have provided a home to hundreds of native and migratory birds, jackals, wild boar and snakes. When ISRO scouted for suitable location in 1960s to launch its rockets, an aerial survey revealed that this island was ideal. It was on the east coast. So rockets can take advantage of west to east rotation of the earth and put heavier satellites in orbit. It was a large unpopulated area and this provided a safety corridor. A road through the waters of the Pulicat Lake was laid to connect to Sullarpeta. The first big rocket to soar into the sky from Sriharikota was SLV-3 ON August 10, 1979 with a satellite called Rohini.

Today there are two launch pads, a sophisticated Mission Control Centre with a bank of computers where ISRO specialists conduct the launch operations from countdown till the satellite is put in the orbit, a huge facility for making solid propellants that power the launch vehicles, radar to track the rockets and so on.

Future plans of ISRO

After the successful launch of Chandrayana-I, next goal of ISRO is Chandrayana-II, the tentative deadline for which was 2010 at an estimated cost of Rs 500 crore.

ISRO is ambitiously panning to land an Indian on moon during 2015.

Mission to Mars and ‘Aditya’ mission to study external atmosphere on Sun i.e. corona have been included in the plan of ISRO.

ISRO was planning to start ‘Astronauts Training Centre’ at Bangalore, probably at the site of DSN at Byalalu. The centre would spread over 140 acres of land and expected to be ready in next three years. 40 acres of land was identified by ISRO and Karnataka Government had promised to allot 100 acres land. The cost of the centre was estimated to be Rs 1000 crore.

The centre will have every thing of interest to science students and astronauts. It houses;

• Radiation Simulation Chamber to help astronauts to handle radiation from the sun
• Centrifuge to enable maneuvers in space
• Zero Gravity Simulation set-up
• Giant Swimming Pool to simulate zero gravity under water and
• Facilities to train astronauts to fly their spacecraft.

ISRO scouted for sites across the country before deciding on Bangalore because Bangalore has an Institute for Aviation Medicine, an area crucial to space-related endeavors. ISRO planned to have the Institution ready in three years before their manned mission. For that, the centre has to be ready three years earlier because it takes that much time for training.. The centre should have been ready by 2012 as ISRO is planning to send astronauts to moon in 2015.

Conclusion

By the success of Chandrayana-I, ISRO stand out in the group of space-faring nation; they have made every Indian feel proud. The credit should go to their down-to-earth scientists. They have cohesive team spirit with open culture. Simplicity is their basic policy. This culture is developed from the time of Vikram Sarabhai followed by Satish Dhavan, Kasturirangan, U.R.Rao and Madhavan Nayar. For every one in ISRO, success of the project has been their goal.

Subsequent developments in ISRO have not been very pleasant. Chandrayana-I did not serve its full life. It stopped functioning abruptly. However, ISRO claimed, they were able to get all necessary details, and the premature death of the spacecraft did not affect.

USA claimed they were first to detect presence of moisture on moon. ISRO counterclaimed they had detected the moisture on the moon surface much earlier than USA, but they were waiting for some more details to announce.

Some scandals in Antariksh of ISRO appeared in the media made the people to bow their head with shame.

As a common man of India, I would request the present chairman, Dr.K. Radhkrisnan to enlighten me on the following few points.

1)      Have ISRO been able to pin-point the technical defect, like power failure or so, that resulted in premature dysfunction of the spacecraft?

2)      Is no sabotage to destroy the spacecraft by our competitors suspected?

3)      What is the present position to launch Chandrayana-II? Earlier it was planned for 2010 itself.

4)      ISRO were aspiring to land Indian astronauts on moon possibly by 2015. Are ISRO able to achieve the aim?

5)      ISRO had planned to start ‘Astronaut Training Center’ near Byalalu in Bangalore by 2012 to train their astronauts for manned mission in 2015. What is the present position?

6)      Has ISRO prepared an album containing three dimensional photos of moon?

I expect comments on the report about Chandrayana-I and enlighten me on the above points.

‘WISHING BRIGHT SUCCESS IN ALL ENDEAVOURS OF ISRO’

                                                              ************

                                                        Somanath S.Salimath. B.E., D.F.E. (Germany)

                                                        Bangalore-560024 (India)

                                                        Ph: 080-2343 0702,  Mobile: 94483 88678.

                                                        E-Mail: somanathsalimath @ gmail.com.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

 Comments from readers are heartily welcome by the writer.

………………………………………………………………………

.