ISRO using most powerful PSLV to launch GSAT-12

ISRO-Indian Space Research Organization is using the most powerful configuration of its rocket PSLV to launch a communication satellite GSAT-12 from Sriharikota on July 15^th 2011 costs nearly Rs 200 crore.

 It's only for the second time ever that a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is being used to loft a communication satellite, the first one being Kalpana-1 in 2002. Bangalore-headquartered ISRO opted for this step as there is a large unfulfilled and pressing demand for communication transponders.

Communication satellites are launched on board GSLV or ISRO goes in procured launches overseas.

ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan said: "We wanted to create (transponder) capacity at the earliest. That's why we used the PSLV for the purpose (of launching a communication satellite), and achieve whatever is possible...best possible by a PSLV with XL configuration. That's the most powerful configuration,"

The GSAT-12 is a "fast-track" satellite with a mass of 1410 kg, has 12 Extended C-band transponders. It is slated to be injected into space by PSLV-C17 after the launch from Sriharikota spaceport slated between 16.48 hours and 17.08 hours on July 15. Similar PSLV, with extended strap-ons, was used for India's Chandrayaan-1 mission.

ISRO discovers cave in moon

ISRO scientists have discovered a giant underground cave on the moon, which could be used as a lunar base by astronauts for inter-planetary missions.

Scientists at the Space Applications Centre (SAC), using data gathered from Chandrayaan-I's Terrain Mapping Camera and Hyper Spectral Imager (HySI) payloads, found a 1.2 km long buried, uncollapsed and near horizontal lava tube.

The hollow cave situated just above the lunar equator on the nearside of moon, can accommodate a large number of astronauts and scientific instruments, and also protect them from hostile lunar environment.

"Such a lava tube could be a potential site for future human habitability on the Moon for future human missions and scientific explorations, providing a safe environment from hazardous radiations, micro-meteoritic impacts, extreme temperatures and dust storms," a team of scientists led by A.S. Arya of SAC, Ahmedabad.

ISRO Scientists said identifying sites for permanent base for human settlements on the moon is important for further investigation.

India in Space expo

ISRO organizing a exhibition on space named ‘India in Space’ is going to be held at the FISAT, Angamaly, from September 16 to 18.

The main aim of the exhibition is to create an awareness among school and college students about India's achievements in space programmes and to show how they have helped in the country’s overall development.

The exhibition will showcase satellites ranging from Aryabhatta to the Insat series. Chandrayaan-1 and the technology used in it will be the major highlights of the exhibition. The models of India’s future programmes (VISION till 2020) like GSLV-Mk III, Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD), Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-II) and Chandrayaan-2 will also be displayed.

The video shows of Chandrayaan-1 and the history of the Indian space research will add color to the event. Electra, the student wing of the EEE branch, is organising the event in connection with the Techfest Nautilus, to be held in the college. The entry is free.

Chandrayaan’s Mini-SAR finds Ice on Moon

Analysis of data obtained by the Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar (Mini-SAR) onboard Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft has provided evidence for the presence of ice deposits near the moon's North Pole. The Mini-SAR instrument found more than 40 small craters (2-15 km in diameter) with sub-surface water ice located at their base. The interior of these craters is in permanent sun shadow.

Prof. Paul Spudis, Principal Investigator of the Mini-SAR experiment said, “The new discoveries by Chandrayaan-1 and other lunar missions show that the moon is an even more interesting and attractive scientific exploration and operational destination than people had previously thought.”

The Mini-SAR mapped the moon’s permanently shadowed polar craters that are not visible from Earth. The radar uses the polarisation properties of reflected radio waves to characterise surface properties. Results from the mapping showed deposits having radar characteristics similar to ice. The emerging picture from the multiple measurements and resulting data of the instruments, Moon Mineralogy Mapper and Mini-SAR on Chandrayaan-1 and NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), indicates that water creation, migration, deposition and retention are occurring on the moon.

The Mini-SAR's findings have just been published in the journal, “Geophysical Research Letters” authored by scientists from 13 agencies from USA and India, including Prof. J.N. Goswami, Principal Scientist, Chandrayaan-1 from Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad and Dr. M. Chakrabarty of Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad. The new findings add to the growing scientific understanding of the multiple forms of water on the moon.

Mini-SAR and Moon Mineralogy Mapper are two of the 11 instruments on Chandrayaan-1, which was launched on October 22, 2008, and began orbiting the moon on November 8, 2008. The Applied Physics Laboratory, USA performed the final integration and testing on Mini-SAR. It was developed and built by the Naval Air Warfare Center and several other commercial and government agencies in USA.

First glance of X-rays from the Moon

The Imaging X-ray Spectrometer (CIXS), one of the 11 payloads onboard Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, jointly developed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the UK's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, has successfully detected the first X-ray signature from the Moon, ISRO announced on Friday.

Chandrayaan-1 is the first lunar mission of ISRO and also the first mission with international partners. It is designed to orbit the Moon at an altitude of 100 km and carries 11 scientific instruments including radar and particle detectors as well as instruments that will make observations in the visible, near infrared and soft and hard X-rays.

Chandrayaan-1 was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, on 22nd October, 2008 and it entered the lunar orbit on 8th November, 08.

In orbit around the Moon, Chandrayaan-1 CIXS detected the X-ray signal from a region near the Apollo landing sites on 12th December, 08.

ISRO said: "The solar flare that caused the X-ray fluorescence was exceedingly weak, approximately 20 times smaller than the minimum CIXS was designed to detect. The X-ray camera collected three minutes of data from the Moon just as the flare started and the camera finished its observation".

ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said: "The joint development of CIXS in Chandrayaan-1 between ISRO and RAL, UK, is a major achievement. First signatures obtained from CIXS are highly encouraging".

M3 AND INDIA'S FIRST MISSION TO THE MOON

The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) is one of two instruments that NASA is contributing to India's first mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-1 (meaning "Lunar Craft" in ancient Sanskrit), which launched on October 22, 2008. M3 is a state-of-the-art imaging spectrometer that will provide the first map of the entire lunar surface at high spatial and spectral resolution, revealing the minerals of which it is made.

Scientists will use this information to answer questions about the Moon's origin and development and the evolution of terrestrial planets in the early solar system. Future astronauts will use it to locate resources, possibly including water that can support exploration of the Moon and beyond.