India has reached the Moon! Its Chandrayaan-1 (“Lunar Craft” 1) was captured by the Moon’s gravity on 8 November. After firing its main engine three times, the box-shaped spacecraft is now looping over the lunar poles at a height of about 100 km.
Chandrayaan-1 is India’s first mission to travel beyond Earth orbit. It follows on from recent lunar orbiters that include ESA’s SMART-1 and spacecraft from China and Japan. The Indian explorer carries 11 scientific experiments, including five that are home-grown and three from Europe. The European instruments are based on similar experiments flown on SMART-1. They are designed to study in detail what the Moon’s surface is made of, as well as its weak, localised magnetic fields.
One of the most unusual experiments was India’s Moon Impact Probe, which was released from the orbiter on 14 November. The probe sent back a series of pictures as it plunged toward the surface. During a flight that lasted 25 minutes, the radar system measured its altitude, and another instrument was used to study the thin lunar atmosphere. The probe crashed into the surface close to the south pole – a place where ice may exist in craters that never receive any sunlight.
The spacecraft also carries a radar instrument that will search for water ice in the dark polar regions. Other important data will come from a laser altimeter, which gives precise measurements of the highs and lows on the surface.
Chandrayaan-1 was launched on 22 October 2008. ESA and India will share the data from their instruments. Other international partners in the mission include Bulgaria and the USA.
