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| CHANDRAYAAN-1: India's first
mission to the Moon |
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"THE MOON" with the history of the
early solar system etched on it beckons mankind
from time immemorial to admire its marvels and discover
its secrets. Understanding the moon provides a pathway
to unravel the early evolution of the solar system
and that of the planet earth.
Through the ages, the Moon, our closest celestial
body has aroused curiosity in our mind much more
than any other objects in the sky. This led to scientific
study of the Moon, driven by human desire and quest
for knowledge. This is also reflected in the ancient
verse. Exploration of the moon got a boost with
the advent of the space age and the decades of sixties
and seventies saw a myriad of successful
unmanned and manned missions to moon.Following this, a hiatus of about one and a half-decade followed.
During this period we refined our knowledge about
the origin and evolution of the moon and its place
as a link to understand the early history of the
Solar System and of the earth. |
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| However, new questions about lunar evolution also emerged
and new possibilities of using the moon as a platform
for further exploration of the solar system and beyond
were formulated. Moon again became the prime target for
exploration and a new renaissance of rejuvenated interest
dawned. All the major space faring nations of the world
started planning missions to explore the moon and also
to utilize moon as a potential base for space exploration. |
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| The idea of undertaking an Indian scientific mission
to Moon was initially mooted in a meeting of the Indian
Academy of Sciences in 1999 that was followed up by discussions
in the Astronautical Society of India in 2000. Based on
the recommendations made by the learned members of these
forums, a National Lunar Mission Task Force was constituted
by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Leading
Indian scientists and technologists participated in the
deliberations of the Task Force that provided an assessment
on the feasibility of an Indian Mission to the Moon as
well as dwelt on the focus of such a mission and its possible
configuration. |
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| The task force recommended that given the technical
expertise of ISRO it will be extreme worthwhile to plan
an Indian Mission to the Moon. It also provided specific
inputs such as the primary scientific objectives of such
a mission, plausible instruments to meet these objectives,
launch and spacecraft technologies that need to be developed
and suggested the need for setting up of a Deep Space
Network (DSN) station in India for communication with
the lunar orbiting spacecraft. The team also provided
a provisional budgetary estimate. |
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| The Study Report of the Task Team was discussed in April
2003 by a peer group of about 100 eminent Indian scientists
representing various fields of planetary & space sciences,
earth sciences, physics, chemistry, astronomy, astrophysics
and engineering and communication sciences. After detailed
discussions, it was unanimously recommended that India
should undertake the Mission to Moon, particularly in
view of the renowned international interest on moon with
several exciting missions planned for the new millennium.
In addition, such a mission will provide the needed thrust
to basic science and engineering research in the country
including new challenges to ISRO to go beyond the geostationary
orbit. Further, such a project will also help bringing
in young talents to the arena of fundamental research.
The Academia, in particular, the university scientists
would also find participation in such a project intellectually
rewarding. |
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| Subsequently, Government of India approved ISRO's proposal
for the first Indian Moon Mission, called Chandrayaan-1
in November 2003. |
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