Bangalore, Thursday 13 November 2008: India’s unmanned lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 was successfully lowered into its final orbit, about 100 km from the moon, on Wednesday evening. Project Director Annadorai of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) confirmed the development and declared the ambitious mission a success.

Chandrayaan will now remain in its final orbit for about two years after the completion of all orbit manoeuvres tonight, ISRO said.

This was the spacecraft’s fourth orbit-reduction manoeuvre, after it descended into a lower orbit at 102 km periselene (nearest point to moon) and 255-km aposilene (farthest point from moon) on Tuesday.

ISRO plans to eject the moon impact probe between November 14 and 15 from the spacecraft and crash it onto the lunar surface at a designated area, where the Indian tricolour will be “hoisted”.

The spacecraft is guided and monitored remotely from the space agency’s telemetry, tracking and command network (Istrac).

ISRO’s deep space network (DSN) at Byalalu, about 40 km from India’s tech hub of Bangalore, transmits commands and receives signals from the spacecraft.

Chandrayaan carries 11 scientific instruments, including six foreign payloads - two from the US, three from the European Space Agency (ESA) and one from Bulgaria. The remaining five are indigenously designed and developed by various centres of the state-run ISRO.

The spacecraft blasted off on October 22 onboard the 316-tonne Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C11 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at the Sriharikota spaceport, about 80 km north of Chennai.
(Agency)