While ISRO has already established its capability to design the spacecraft and has already commissioned PSLV, which will be used for launching the lunarcraft, a few new technologies will have to be developed that would enhance ISRO’s capability further. The important technologies to be developed include Lithium-ion batteries, gimbaled antenna system, miniaturized communication system, miniaturized star sensor and spacecraft bus management.

A Deep Space Network Station will be established at Bangalore, which will have a 180-deg longitudinal shift with respect to Goldstone, California, USA. The station could support spacecraft at a slant range of upto 4,00,000 km for TTC and payload data reception. The station will have a 34 m diameter antenna with an uplink power transmission at 2 kW. The station will be able to receive data in X-band with a spacecraft transmitter power of 2 W.

A National Science Data Centre to process raw data into user-friendly format will be set up at a suitable location.

The total estimated cost of Chandrayaan-1 mission is Rs 386 Crore including Rs 100 Crore for the establishment of Deep Space Network.

The Chandrayaan-1, planned for 2007-2008, will provide a unique opportunity for frontier scientific research and it is expected to be the forerunner of more ambitious planetary missions in the years to come including landing robots on the moon and visits by Indian spacecraft to other planets of the solar system.

Some of the Contemporary Unmanned Lunar Missions

SMART-1 of European Space Agency (ESA), weighing 366 kg, was launched on September 28, 2003 (as one of the co-passengers of India’s INSAT-3E) with the objective of detailed mapping of the geological and mineralogical composition of the moon and searching for ice at the bottom of permanently shadowed craters around the lunar south pole. SMART-1 carries a multi-spectal camera with 40 meter resolution, an infra-red spectrometer and an X-ray spectrometer. Japan’s Lunar-A, which is a 520 kg Lunar Orbiter, is proposed for launch in August 2004 to study the moon’s internal structure by sensing moonquakes and monitoring heat flow from the lunar interior. It will carry a high resolution camera and two instrumented torpedo probes capable of penetrating 2 metres into the lunar surface. SELENE, (Selenological and Engineering Explorer), also of Japan is to study the moon’s origin and evolution by collecting the most detailed information on moon’s topography, the elemental and mineral content of its surface, magnetism and gravity. It is expected to help scientists in the determination of moon’s wobble in its orbit and will collect data on the lunar interior by the comparison of the radio signals coming from the two small satellites (carried piggy-back) stationed in the lunar orbit. Besides, it will study the plasmasphere surrounding the earth and using a small probe, it will test controlled landing technologies for use on more distant bodies. Planned for launch in 2005, the 1600 kg spacecraft will carry an array of spectrometers, imagers, laser altimeters, radar sounders and magnetometers. Chang’e 1 of China for obtaining a three-dimensional map of the lunar surface and analysis of soil composition and material distribution is planned for launch by 2006-2008.