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Chandrayaan looking to help establish lunar bases

Roy Mathew

U.S., Germany collaborating with Indian effort to confirm presence of water

— Photo: M. Vedhan

STANDING TALL: The fully assembled PSLV-C11 on the mobile launch pedestal in the Vehicle Assembly Building of the second launch pad at Sriharikota on October 11.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Chandrayaan mission will focus on the exploration of the South Pole of the moon besides three-dimensional mapping of the entire moonscape.

The moon impact probe will hit the rim of the Shackleton crater of the moon at the South Pole by mid-November if everything goes well. The rim of the Shackleton crater is a location identified by the U.S. space agency NASA to establish a possible lunar outpost by 2020.

An advantage of the location is the availability of sunlight for about 90 per cent of the time. This means abundance of solar energy for power generation.

Direct view

The location is not far from the 5-km high Malapert Mountain on the moon. The Mountain, about 120 km from the Pole, has a direct view of both the Lunar South Pole and the earth and hence could be a suitable location for a radio relay station. Besides, the temperatures on the sunlit areas of the Pole and surroundings are moderate.

A bigger attraction of the location is the possibility of finding water in the dark areas of the Pole, such as the craters. The U.S. Defence Department’s Clementine Orbiter and NASA’s Lunar Prospector had indicated the presence of water in the form of ice in the craters.

ISRO may be able to confirm the presence of water by next year when data from instruments on board Chandrayaan I are analysed. The U.S. and Germany are collaborating with the effort. If water is detected, that would open up the way for production of drinking water, oxygen and hydrogen fuel for future lunar bases and rockets.

Satish Dhawan Space Centre Associate Director M. Y. S. Prasad said that out of 11 payloads on Chandraayan I, four would serve to detect water. These are the miniature synthetic aperture radar and moon mineralogy mapper from the U.S., near infrared spectrometer from Germany, and India’s hyper spectral imaging camera.

To detect ice

The synthetic aperture radar can detect ice in the permanently shadowed regions on the Lunar Poles up to a depth of a few metres.

The infrared spectrometer, which measure wavelength and intensity of the absorption of materials, can throw light on several aspects of lunar surface including chemical characteristics of the surface materials. The mineralogy mapper, which measures solar reflected energy, can characterise and map surface minerals including potential volatiles.

The hyper spectral imaging camera, which can see visible light as well as the ultraviolet to infrared light, will provide information on mineralogical composition of Moon’s interior. Together, they facilitate identification of chemicals on the lunar surface and in the craters.

The high-energy X-ray spectrometer can provide credence to the idea of transport of volatiles including water to the Polar Regions of the moon over geological time.

It will also provide information on the presence of decay products of uranium and thorium (radon and lead) on the moon. The terrain-mapping camera will provide data for the preparation of a three dimensional high-resolution atlas of moon.

Mission Director George Koshy said Chandrayan I would remain in the Lunar orbit for two years. It would normally be able to gather all the targeted data in one to one and a half years. This means there would be spare time.

Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre Director K. Radhakrishnan said the moon mission, scheduled for October 22, would mark the beginning of India’s interplanetary explorations. “We are getting into the moon’s zone of influence.”

Moon mission is not expensive, says ISRO

Chandrayaan-1 taking final tests

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Chandrayaan-1 on course for launch

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