IT MIGHT have been a simple mistake to make, but it proved to be fatal and was the undoing of India’s lunar probe Chandrayaan-1. The space agency underestimated temperatures around the moon, so the probe had been overheating for months.
In May, the Indian Space Research Organisation raised the probe’s lunar orbit from 100 to 200 kilometres, saying the move was to get a better view of the lunar surface. However, the shift was actually an attempt to cool the probe down, ISRO’s T. K. Alex has admitted to The Times of India.
Engineers had miscalculated the radiant heat from the moon’s surface. Operating at higher-than-expected temperatures may have weakened communication circuits prior to the probe’s failure, says ISRO chief Madhavan Nair. Radio contact was lost on 29 August, ending the mission a year early.