'The moon mission boys knew of snags'

Scientists sped up things to get as much info out of Chandrayaan as possible before it conked out, says space agency official

Scientists sped up things to get as much info out of Chandrayaan as possible before it conked out, says space agency official

All contact was lost with Chandrayaan I more than a year before it was supposed to happen, yet India's first lunar probe managed to deliver on 97 per cent of its moon mapping objectives all because, it has now come to light, space scientists discovered early on that there was a problem with the craft and decided to speed things up.

T K Alex, director, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Satellite Centres, said at the launch of a book on India's moon mission yesterday that they had realised soon after Chandrayaan I's launch that there were snags.

"Right at the beginning we realised we had a problem and had an idea this mission would not last too long," he said. "We decided to speed up work by taking pictures of the important areas of the moon as quickly as possible."

Chandrayaan raced against time to win

Launched on October 22 last year, Chandrayaan I was supposed to stay in touch with earth for two years, but conked out in August.

At the time, ISRO scientists said the lunar probe had still achieved almost all of its objectives, which made many ask why the mission was planned as a two-year affair if most of the tasks were to be completed in a year anyway.

With Alex's disclosure, that question has now been answered.

Also, when Chandrayaanu00a0 I stopped sending signals to ISRO on August 29, it was initially believed that only 95 per cent of the objectives had been achieved, but Alex explained that upon compounding the results it was found that the lunar probe had met 97 per cent of its primary objectives.

How we did it: T K Alex, director, Satellite Centres, Indian Space Research Organisation, at the book launch function where he revealed an important nugget of the Chandrayaan I story.u00a0 Pics/NolanPinto	Booking our place on moon: Author Srinivas Laxman (above) at the launch yesterday of his book 'Moonshot India', which traces the journey of India's first lunar mission, Chandrayaan I. Mylswamy Annadurai (below), project director-Chandrayaan I, at the function.

Chandrayaan II

Next up, is Chandrayaan II, which Alex said would explore more of the moon terrain.

"This mission, besides the orbiter, will carry a soft lander," he said.

The soft lander is expected to carry two rover vehicles that will dig out matter from the moon to perform chemical analyses on, an exercise in bettering our understanding of the composition of the lunar surface and its sub-strata.

Manned mission

On plans for a manned mission, he said it ISRO wants to put an Indian in low orbit in the next few years. A proposal has been submitted to the Centre for such a mission.

"This task should be complete by 2015-16," he said.

Mylswamy Annadurai, project director-Chandrayaan I, said all care would be taken for a safe manned mission.

"We will first ensure a proven technology is in place for this," Annadurai said. "The GSLV will most probably be used for this purpose."

Alex also said that as far as the data collected by Chandrayaan was concerned, all of it was safe and that suspicions over its falling in the wrong hands should be laid to rest.

"All the data is saved in our computers in a strictly controlled set-up and it is well protected," he said.