Almost all objectives of Chandrayaan-I achieved: ISRO

Bangalore, Jul 17 (PTI) Chandrayaan-I, which put India
into a select group of moon-faring nations, is considered as a
unique example of global partnership in research as six of its
10 experiments are of international partners, including NASA.

Though a key component of Chandrayaan-I has malfunctioned
raising doubts over the duration of the country's
eight-month-old maiden moon mission, Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) on Friday said it had achieved "almost
all" objectives of the mission.

The mission was launched on October 22 last year with an
objective to prepare comprehensive maps of the moon, including
mineralogy mapping and lunar topography.

The maps could be of immense help when ISRO and other
space agencies plan to land spacecraft on the lunar surface or
plan to use the moon as a base for future interplanetary
missions.

Chandrayaan-I also placed an Indian flag on the lunar
surface when the Moon Impactor Probe (MIP) crashed onto the
moon soon after its launch.

Of the 11 instruments carried by the satellite, five are
Indian, three are from the European Space Agency, two from the
US -- including a radar that can search for ice under lunar
poles -- and one from Bulgaria.

The Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI) developed by
ISRO will help in determining the accurate altitude of the
spacecraft above the lunar surface, determine the global
topographical field of the Moon.

It will also help obtain an improved model for the lunar
gravity field and supplement the data from terrain mapping
camera and hyper-spectral imager payloads.

Such information is fundamental to our understanding of
planetary thermal history.

Indian scientists have equipped Chandrayaan-I with a
Terrain Mapping stereo Camera (TMC) which will map the
topography in both near and far side of the Moon.

The data will help prepare a 3-dimensional atlas with
high spatial and altitude resolution which will help
understand the evolution process and also allow detailed study
of regions of scientific interests.

Besides the 3-D mapping, another ISRO payload Hyper
Spectral Imaging camera (HySI) will gather spectroscopic data
for mineralogical mapping of the lunar surface.

The data from this instrument will help in improving the
available information on mineral composition of the lunar
surface.

The study of data in deep crater regions/central peaks,
which represents lower crust or upper mantle material, will
help in understanding the mineralogical composition of Moon's
interior.

Indigenously-built High Energy X-ray spectrometer (HEX)
will carry out first ever experiments on the lunar surface
that will help scientists find out whether water ever existed
in the polar regions of the moon.

Among the international experiments, the Chandrayaan-1
X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS) of the European Space Agency (ESA)
will carry out high quality X-ray spectroscopic mapping of the
Moon, to find answers to key questions on the origin and
evolution of the Moon.

Near Infra Red spectrometer (SIR-2), developed by the Max
Planck Institute of Germany, will survey mineral lunar
resources for future landing sites and exploration.

The Sub KeV Atom Reflecting Analyser (SARA), a joint
experiment of ESA and ISRO, will image the Moon's surface
composition including the permanently shadowed areas and
volatile rich areas.

The Radiation Dose Monitor Experiment (RADOM) of the
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences will help evaluate the radiation
environment and radiation shielding requirements for future
manned Moon missions.

The Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar (MiniSAR) of NASA
will look for water ice in the permanently shadowed regions on
the lunar poles up to a depth of a few meters.

The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), another NASA experiment
will map lunar surface mineralogy in the context of lunar
geologic evolution.

The primary exploration goal is to assess and map lunar
mineral resources at high spatial resolution to support
planning for future, targeted missions. PTI SKU
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