Chandrayaan-1 to Carry European Instruments

ISRO and the European Space Agency (ESA) have signed an agreement for
flying European instruments on board India’s first scientific mission to moon, Chandrayaan-1. Mr G Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO and Mr Jean Jacques Dordain, Director General, ESA signed the agreement to this effect on June 27, 2005 at Bangalore, under the already existing umbrella agreement for cooperation
between ISRO and ESA.

The European instruments are:
• Low energy (0.5-10 keV) X-ray spectrometer called Chandrayaan Imaging X-Ray Spectrometer from Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK, to measure elemental abundance distributed over the lunar surface using X-ray fluorescence technique.
It will also include an X-ray solar monitor to record the incident solar X-ray flux
• Near Infra-Red (IR) Spectrometer from Max Planck Institute of Aeronomie, Germany, to detect and measure lunar mineral abundances and
• Sub keV Atom Reflecting Analyser from Swedish Institute of Space Physics, developed in collaboration with Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, India, to measure volatiles generated due to solar wind impacting on lunar
surface and determine the surface magnetic field anomalies.

Europe will also contribute to the Indian experiment, namely, High Energy X-ray Spectrometer. The above European instruments will complement the main Indian experiments on Chandrayaan-1, namely, Terrain Mapping Camera with stereo imaging capability operating in panchromatic band with 5 m spatial resolution and 20 km swath; Hyper-Spectral Imager operating in 400-900 nm band with a spectral resolution of 15 nm, a spatial resolution of 80 m and 20 km swath; Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument with a vertical resolution of better than 5 m and High Energy X-ray (10-250 keV) spectrometer with a footprint of 20 km to detect radio nuclei. As per this agreement, Indian and ESA scientists will share the data from the European instruments.

An Impact Probe has also been added to the basket of instruments for proving technological elements required for possible future landing missions.

Chandrayaan-1 is planned for launch by 2007-08 onboard India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. The 590 kg satellite will be placed in 100 km polar orbit around the moon and it will have a life time of two years.

Mr G Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO (left) and Mr Jean Jacques Dordain, Director General, ESA signing the agreement