In a major blow to India’s maiden mission to the moon, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) abruptly lost contact with Chandrayaan-1 at 01.30 a.m. on Saturday. This means no command can be given to the spacecraft and no data, including images of the moon’s surface, are being received from it.
The Chandrayaan-1 mission has come to an end in ten months instead of its slated life of two years.
“We are not able to give commands to the spacecraft," S. Satish, Director, Publications and Public Relations Department of ISRO, told The Hindu. "We are not able to establish communication with it, with the result that we do not know what is happening."
The Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu village, near Bangalore, received data from Chandrayaan-1 till an hour before radio contact was lost. The IDSN, with its huge antennae with diameters of 32 metres and 18 metres, is the hub of communications from the ground with the spacecraft. It is from Byalalu that commands were radioed to the spacecraft to perform various manoeuvres. Images from Chandrayaan-1 were also received here.
India’s first spacecraft to the moon was launched on October 22, 2008 from Sriharikota. An ISRO press release noted on Saturday that the spacecraft had completed 312 days in orbit, making more than 3,400 orbits around the moon. It provided a large amount of data from its sophisticated instruments such as the Terrain Mapping Camera, the Hyper-Spectral Imager, the Moon Mineralogy Mapper and so on. ISRO claimed that the mission had met most of its scientific objectives.
Chandrayaan-1 sent back more than 70,000 images of the lunar surface, which provided breathtaking views of lunar mountains and craters, especially craters in the permanently shadowed areas of the moon’s polar region. It also collected data on the chemical and mineral content of the moon’s soil.
But the troubles that have cut short the life of the moon mission began in November itself when the spacecraft’s power subsystems started failing one by one. In April the mission went into a crisis, with the primary star-sensor and the backup star-sensor failing. But top ISRO officials appeared keen to play down the setbacks, with a May 20 press release making no mention of the failure of the star-sensors and the power units.
Asked what could have gone wrong with the spacecraft, Mr. Satish said: “Some electronic sub-system could have malfunctioned. We are looking at the telemetry data and trying to find out what is the problem. Using the telemetry data [received till contact with the spacecraft was lost], the health of the spacecraft is being analysed. It is expected to throw light on the problem noticed. ISRO’s stations are trying to revive the spacecraft.”
Asked whether Chadrayaan-1 was drifting away from its orbit, Mr. Satish said it was "definitely in orbit." However, if the present situation continued, the orbit could be disrupted.
ISRO experts explained that all communication with Chandrayaan-1 and the receipt of data from it was handled through on-board electronic systems. “If radio contact with Chandrayaan is suddenly lost," a top expert pointed out, "only electronic systems on the spacecraft could have failed. Otherwise, this could not have happened. From the symptoms, it looks as if the electronics failed.”
A Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) of ISRO put Chandrayaan-1 in its initial orbit. The spacecraft carried 11 instruments on board. One of them named the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) "impacted" on the lunar surface on November 14, 2008, signalling India’s success in reaching the moon.
‘Mission definitely over’
“The mission is definitely over. We have lost contact with the spacecraft,” Mylswamy Annadurai, Project Director of the Chandrayaan-1, told PTI.
He said the mission had almost completed its scientific objectives. “It has done its job technically ... 100 per cent. Scientifically also, it has done almost 90-95 per cent of its job,” said Mr. Annadurai.
ISRO chairman Madhavan Nair commented: “We will have to face the reality but we will have a better opportunity tomorrow.” PTI
Keywords: Chandrayaan-1, Moon, ISRO, M. Annadurai, Madhavan Nair, Moon missions, Satellites,
I think this mission was a success just from the attempt. So lets improve our Chandrayaan-1 to Chandrayaan-2.
We are better at cricket than anything else.
Indeed its a great job done .. it's time for our next mission..
Placing the satellite in ordit and trajectory control are the key for such a mission and they have achieved it. And the satellite has made enough rounds around the moon for alomost an year to call this mission very successful. As we are still learning and this is the first deep space mission, we should be very very pround of ISRO and what it is has given to INDIA and made us held high in the international market. If the life expentency of a mission is two years, usually the mission will be compeleted in slightly over an year. In that sense, there is every reason to believe that 95% of the job is completed.
good job guys. keep it up.
Sad day indeed for India's space program. Mission failing one year before termination date is pathetic. Remember all the commotion India made when they launched claiming to be a superpower, all that is worthless. What happened to all the smart people who were part of the mission that were produced out of elite universities in India?
India is a 3rd world country and would remain so. We are good at learning but not good at innovation or creativity. China is way ahead of us and has already sent a man to the moon. We are still failing at launching satellites which is nothing more than India's version of Google Earth. Cmon ISRO, give the nation something better than this.
I think this would have given great experience to the ISRO scientists. I believe they will do it better on the next mission. I really dont care about the money spent on this, because this is cheapest(cost wise) moon mission ever done by any country. Thats a big deal. Lets support the scientist by encouraging them and not questioning them as crime accused.
If the mission of the spacecraft was spanned over two years, how is that the mission can achieve 95% of its job already. Then the next one year is made of only 5% work? ISRO should come out with clarity on the project, initial objectives and what they achieved. By statements like these I dont consider the leaders in the organization credible. After all they are answerable to the tax payer.
Its good to know that the craft had done 90-95% of its job in less than half of its expected life time but if the accusations of not paying heed to the fact that electronic system was failing is a very serious crime on the part of involved scientists & technicians for the capital associated with such kind of large scale experiments is a huge amount.
Comeon guys, the nation spent so much of money to listen all these stories. Accountability is needed. Heads responsible for this failure should roll.
Don't lose heart team. You did a wonderful job of indigenously developing state of the art satellite. We also understand that the main mission has been completed. I am sure Chandrayaan-II will be a grand success.
As long as we have scientists who seek divine blessings before launching the rockets, we cannot expect our missions to be successful. ISRO should recruit people with a passion for science and rational thinking, not merely doctorates in science.
It is enough to even attempt for such a complex mission with all that effort, than to see it's success. For India, it is a small step toady but a great leap for tomorrow. This end of a failure should definitely be the ispiration of a beginning of something new.
It's a sad day for the Indian technological progress.
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