Chandrayaan-1: ISRO loses contact, claims mission 'over' Print Email Discuss Bookmark/Share Save Comment Text Size: |
"The mission is definitely over. We have lost contact with the spacecraft," Project Director of the Chandrayaan-1 mission M Annadurai said.
However, he said: "It (Chandrayaan-1) has done its job technically...100 per cent. Scientifically also, it has done almost 90-95 percent of its job".
ISRO chief Madhavan Nair on Saturday virtually admitted that the Chandrayaan-I moon mission could be over, saying it is a "pretty difficult" situation.
"At the moment, we have suspended the mission. Calling it off would depend on what has failed. We are trying to analyse what has gone wrong and we will take a look at it tomorrow," he told reporters.
Asked if there was any hope of the mission surviving, he said he can't confirm anything at the moment.
The two-year mission, launched on October 22 last year with much fanfare, was abandoned early today after the after radio contact with the mooncraft was abruptly lost at 0130 hours.
The Deep Space Network at Byalalu near here received the data from the 1,380 kg Chandrayaan-1, which carried 11 instruments on board, including six from overseas, during the previous orbit up to 0025 hours.
ISRO is conducting detailed review of the telemetry data from the spacecraft. "We will analyse as to what happened," Annadurai said.
Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, launched by homegrown PSLV-C11 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, has completed 312 days in orbit, making more than 3,400 orbits around the moon.
It has provided large volume of data from sophisticated sensors such as terrain mapping camera, hyper-spectral imager and moon mineralogy mapper, meeting most of the scientific objectives of the mission.
ISRO said last month Chandrayaan-1 had sent more than 70,000 images of the lunar surface which provide breathtaking views of lunar mountains and craters, especially craters in the permanently shadowed areas of the Moon's polar region.
Chandrayaan-1 was also collecting valuable data pertaining to the chemical and mineral content of the Moon, ISRO said on July 17.
Significantly, on August 21, ISRO and NASA performed a unique joint experiment that the Indian space agency said could yield additional information on the possibility of existence of ice in a permanently shadowed crater near the North Pole of the moon.
The end to the Chandrayaan-1 mission comes just over four months after the onboard star sensor for determining the orientation of the spacecraft started malfunctioning on April 26, and one of the bus management units failed.
QnA: Is the end of Chandrayaan-1 a failure and a setback for ISRO?
QnA: Does ISRO have the caliber to overshadow NASA?
BANGALORE: Ten months after it was launched, India's maiden moon mission the ambitious Chandrayaan-1 came to an abrupt end on Saturday after ISRO lost communication with the spacecraft, cutting short the dream odyssey that was expected to last two years."The mission is definitely over. We have lost contact with the spacecraft," Project Director of the Chandrayaan-1 mission M Annadurai said.However, he said: "It (Chandrayaan-1) has done its job technically...100 per cent. Scientifically also, it has done almost 90-95 percent of its job".ISRO chief Madhavan Nair on Saturday virtually admitted that the Chandrayaan-I moon mission could be over, saying it is a "pretty difficult" situation."At the moment, we have suspended the mission. Calling it off would depend on what has failed. We are trying to analyse what has gone wrong and we will take a look at it tomorrow," he told reporters.Asked if there was any hope of the mission surviving, he said he can't confirm anything at the moment.The two-year mission, launched on October 22 last year with much fanfare, was abandoned early today after the after radio contact with the mooncraft was abruptly lost at 0130 hours.The Deep Space Network at Byalalu near here received the data from the 1,380 kg Chandrayaan-1, which carried 11 instruments on board, including six from overseas, during the previous orbit up to 0025 hours.ISRO is conducting detailed review of the telemetry data from the spacecraft. "We will analyse as to what happened," Annadurai said.Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, launched by homegrown PSLV-C11 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, has completed 312 days in orbit, making more than 3,400 orbits around the moon.It has provided large volume of data from sophisticated sensors such as terrain mapping camera, hyper-spectral imager and moon mineralogy mapper, meeting most of the scientific objectives of the mission.ISRO said last month Chandrayaan-1 had sent more than 70,000 images of the lunar surface which provide breathtaking views of lunar mountains and craters, especially craters in the permanently shadowed areas of the Moon's polar region.Chandrayaan-1 was also collecting valuable data pertaining to the chemical and mineral content of the Moon, ISRO said on July 17.Significantly, on August 21, ISRO and NASA performed a unique joint experiment that the Indian space agency said could yield additional information on the possibility of existence of ice in a permanently shadowed crater near the North Pole of the moon.The end to the Chandrayaan-1 mission comes just over four months after the onboard star sensor for determining the orientation of the spacecraft started malfunctioning on April 26, and one of the bus management units failed.
'''Indie straciły dziś kontakt z krążącym wokół Księżyca bezzałogowym pojazdem kosmicznym Chandrayaan-1 - poinformowała indyjska państwowa agencja kosmiczna ISRO oraz indyjski dziennik "The Times of India".'''

Indyjska Organizacja Badań Kosmicznych ISRO poinformowała o utracie łączności z pierwszą indyjską sondą kosmiczną Chandrayaan-1, która 22 października 2008 roku została wystrzelona z centrum kosmicznego Satish Dawan za pomocą rakiety nośnej PSLV.

Zadaniem misji było sporządzenie dokładnych map Księżyca, w tym także sprawdzenie co znajduje się pod jego powierzchnią. Sonda kosmiczna przeznaczona do mapowania Księżyca powstała w kooperacji z NASA, której zależy na dobrych zdjęciach i mapach Księżyca, bo planuje założenie tam stałej stacji załogowej. Indyjska Agencja Kosmiczna (Indian Space Research Organisation - ISRO) zaplanowała misję Chandrayaan-1 na dwa lata. 

Satelita Chandrayaan-1 wart 80 milionów dolarów miał na pokładzie 11 przyrządów, za pomocą których dokonywał badań a następnie przesyłał je drogą radiową na Ziemię. 

Jednym z jej głównych celów było odnalezienie izotopu helu-3, który bardzo rzadko występuje na Ziemi, a w przyszłości może być wykorzystywany do uzyskania energii z procesu syntezy jądrowej, w którym nie powstawałyby odpady promieniotwórcze.

ISRO planuje w ciągu czterech lat wysłać na Księżyc misję załogową.