Chandrayaan-1, India's first mission to moon

Chandrayaan-1, India's first mission to Moon, was launched successfully on October 22, 2008 from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota. The spacecraft was orbiting around the Moon at a height of 100 km from the lunar surface for chemical, mineralogical and photo-geologic mapping of the Moon. The spacecraft carried 11 scientific instruments built in India, USA, UK, Germany, Sweden and Bulgaria.

Objectives:

The mission had the following stated scientific objectives:

1.     To design, develop, launch and orbit a spacecraft around the Moon using an Indian-made launch-vehicle.

2.     To detect water-ice on the Moon

3.     To conduct scientific experiments using instruments on the spacecraft which would yield data:

• for the preparation of a three-dimensional atlas (with high spatial and altitude resolution of 5–10 m) of both the near and far sides of the Moon
• for chemical and mineralogical mapping of the entire lunar surface at high spatial resolution, mapping particularly the chemical elements magnesium, aluminium, silicon,calcium, iron, titanium, radon, uranium, and thorium
• to increase scientific knowledge
• to test the impact of a sub-satellite (Moon Impact Probe — MIP) on the surface on the Moon as a fore-runner to future soft-landing missions

 Details: 

Mission	Remote Sensing, Planetary Science
Weight	1380 kg (Mass at lift off)
Onboard power	700 Watts
Stabilization	3 - axis stabilised using reaction wheel and attitude control thrusters, sun sensors, star sensors, fibre optic gyros and accelerometers for attitude determination.
Payloads	Scientific Payloads from India a) Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC) b) Hyper Spectral Imager (HySI) c) Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI) d) High Energy X - ray Spectrometer (HEX) e) Moon Impact Probe(MIP) Scientific Payloads from abroad f) Chandrayaan-I  X-ray Spectrometer (CIXS) g) Near Infrared Spectrometer (SIR - 2) h) Sub keV Atom Reflecting Analyzer (SARA) i) Miniature Synthetic Aperature Radar (Mini SAR) j) Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) k) Radiation Dose Monitor (RADOM)
Launch Date	22 October 2008
Launch Site	SDSC, SHAR, Sriharikota
Launch Vehicle	PSLV - C11
Orbit	100 km x 100 km : Lunar Orbit
Mission life	2 years

PSLV – C11:

PSLV-C11 is 44.4 metre tall and has four stages using solid and liquid propulsion systems alternately. The first stage, carrying 138 tonne of propellant, is one of the largest solid propellant boosters in the world. Six solid propellant strap-on motors (PSOM-XL), each carrying twelve tonne of solid propellant, are strapped on to the first stage. The second stage carries 41.5 tonne of liquid propellant. The third stage uses 7.6 tonne of solid propellant and the fourth has a twin engine configuration with 2.5 tonne of liquid propellant.

 
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, designed and developed PSLV-C11. 

Specific areas of study:

• High-resolution mineralogical and chemical imaging of the permanently shadowed north- and south-polar regions
• Searching for surface or sub-surface lunar water-ice, especially at the lunar poles
• Identification of chemicals in lunar highland rocks
• Chemical stratigraphy of the lunar crust by remote sensing of the central uplands of large lunar craters, and of the South Pole Aitken Region (SPAR), an expected site of interior material
• Mapping the height variation of features of the lunar surface
• Observation of X-ray spectrum greater than 10 keV and stereographic coverage of most of the Moon's surface with 5 m resolution
• Providing new insights in understanding the Moon's origin and evolution

Awards:

• The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has selected ISRO's Chandrayaan-1 mission as one of the recipients of its annual AIAA SPACE 2009 awards, which recognises key contributions to space science and technology.
• The International Lunar Exploration Working Group awarded the Chandrayaan-1 team the International Co-operation Award in 2008 for accommodation and tests of the most international lunar payload ever (from 20 countries, including India, the European Space Agency of 17 countries, USA, and Bulgaria).
• US-based National Space Society awarded ISRO the 2009 Space Pioneer Award in the science and engineering category, for the Chandrayaan-1 mission

Video explanation:
Source: ISRO

The mission was launched on 22 October 2008 and expected to operate for 2 years. However, at 09.02 (UTC) on 29 August 2009 communication with the spacecraft was suddenly lost. The probe had operated for 312 days. The craft was expected to remain in orbit for approximately another 1000 days and to crash into the lunar surface in late 2012.