Specific Areas of Study - Chandrayaan 1

• High resolution mineralogical and chemical imaging of permanently shadowed north and south polar regions

• Search for surface or sub-surface water-ice on the moon, specially at lunar pole
• Identification of chemical end members of lunar high land rocks
• Chemical stratigraphy of lunar crust by remote sensing of central upland of large lunar craters, South Pole Aitken Region (SPAR) etc., where interior material may be expected
• To map the height variation of the lunar surface features along the satellite track
• Observation of X-ray spectrum greater than 10 keV and stereographic coverage of most of the moon's surface with 5m resolution, to provide new insights in understanding the moon's origin and evolution

The scientific payload has a total mass of 90 kg and contains six Indian instruments and six foreign instruments.

• The Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC) has 5 m resolution and a 40 km swath in the panchromatic band and will be used to produce a high-resolution map of the Moon.

• The Hyper Spectral Imager (HySI) will perform mineralogical mapping in the 400-900 nm band with a spectral resolution of 15 nm and a spatial resolution of 80 m.

• The Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI) will determine the surface topography.

• An X-ray fluorescence spectrometer C1XS covering 1- 10 keV with a ground resolution of 25 km and a Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) to detect solar flux in the 1–10 keV range. C1XS will be used to map the abundance of Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, and Fe at the surface, and will monitor the solar flux. This payload is a collaboration between Rutherford Appleton laboratory, U.K, ESA and ISRO.

• A High Energy X-ray/gamma ray spectrometer (HEX) for 30- 200 keV measurements with ground resolution of 40 km, the HEX will measure U, Th, ²¹⁰Pb, ²²²Rn degassing, and other radioactive elements
• Moon Impact probe(MIP) developed by ISRO is in turn a small satellite that will be carried by Chandrayaan-1 and will be ejected once it reaches 100 km orbit around moon, to impact on the moon. MIP carries three more instruments namely, a high resolution mass spectrometer, an S-Band altimeter and a video camera.

• Among foreign payloads, The Sub-keV Atom Reflecting Analyzer (SARA) from ESA will map composition using low energy neutral atoms sputtered from the surface.

• The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) from Brown University and JPL (funded by NASA) is an imaging spectrometer designed to map the surface mineral composition.

• A near infrared spectrometer (SIR-2) from ESA, built at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Polish Academy of Science and University of Bergen, will also map the mineral composition using an infrared grating spectrometer. The instrument will be similar to that of the Smart-1 SIR.

• S-band miniSAR from the APL at the Johns Hopkins University (funded by NASA) is the active SAR system to map lunar polar ice. The instrument will transmit right polarized radiation with a frequency of 2.5 GHz and will monitor the scattered left and right polarized radiation. The Fresnel reflectivity and the cicular polarization ratio (CPR) are the key parameters deduced from this measurments. Ice shows the Coherent Backscatter Opposition Effect which results in an enhancement of refelections and CPR. With the data the water content of the moon polar region can estimated.

• Radiation Dose Monitor (RADOM-7) from Bulgaria is to map the radiation environment around the moon.

Chandrayaan Mission Objectives

• To carry out high resolution mapping of topographic features in 3D, distribution of various minerals and elemental chemical species including radioactive nuclides covering the entire lunar surface using a set of remote sensing payloads. The new set of data would help in unraveling mysteries about the origin and evolution of solar system in general and that of the moon in particular.

• Realize the mission goal of harnessing the science payloads, lunar craft and the launch vehicle with suitable ground support system including DSN station, integration and testing, launching and achieving lunar orbit of ~100 km, in-orbit operation of experiments, communication/telecommand, telemetry data reception, quick look data and archival for scientific utilization by identified group of scientists.

The remote sensing satellite will weigh 1304 kg (590 kg initial orbit mass and 504 kg dry mass) and carry high resolution remote sensing equipment for visible, near infrared, soft and hard X-ray frequencies. Over a two-year period, it is intended to survey the lunar surface to produce a complete map of its chemical characteristics and 3-dimensional topography. The polar regions are of special interest, as they might contain water ice.[1]

The ISRO has identified Mylswamy Annadurai as Project Chief.

The spacecraft is scheduled for launch on October 22 with a window fixed between October 19 and October 28.[2]

They estimate the cost to be INR 3.8 billion (US$ 83 million).

The mission includes five ISRO payloads and six payloads from other international space agencies such as NASA and ESA, and the Bulgarian Aerospace Agency .

Press Release:ISRO and NASA Sign MOU on Chandrayaan-1

Mr G Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO, and Dr Michael Griffin, Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of USA today (May 9, 2006) signed Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) at ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bangalore, on inclusion of two US Scientific instruments on board India's first mission to Moon, Chandrayaan-1. These instruments are - Mini Synthetic Aperture Radar (Mini SAR) developed by Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University and funded by NASA and Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M³), jointly built by Brown University and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of NASA.

Mr G Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO (centre) and
Dr Michael Griffin, Administrator, NASA (right),
signing MOU on Chandrayaan-1 at ISRO Satellite Centre.

Chandrayaan-1, scheduled during 2007-2008, is India's first unmanned scientific mission to moon. The main objective is the investigation of the distribution of various minerals and chemical elements and high-resolution three-dimensional mapping of the entire lunar surface. ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV, will launch Chandrayaan-1 into a 240 km X 24,000 km earth orbit. Subsequently, the spacecraft's own propulsion system would be used to place it in a 100 km polar orbit around the moon.

The Indian payloads on board Chandrayaan-1 include: a Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC), a Hyper Spectral Imager (HySI), a High-Energy X-ray spectrometer (HEX), a Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI) and a Moon Impact Probe (MIP).

The two US instruments, Mini SAR and M3, were selected on the basis of merit out of 16 firm proposals from all over the world received in response to ISRO's announcement of opportunity. The main objective of Mini SAR is to detect water in the permanently shadowed areas of lunar polar regions. The objective of M3 is the characterisation and mapping of minerals on the lunar surface.

Earlier, three instruments - Chandrayaan-1 Imaging X-Ray Spectrometer (CIXS) from Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK, developed with contribution from ISRO Satellite Centre; Near Infra-Red Spectrometer (SIR-2) from Max Planck Institute, Germany; and Sub keV Atom Reflecting Analyser (SARA) from Swedish Institute of Space Physics developed in collaboration with ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre -- were selected from the European Space Agency besides a RAdiation DOse Monitor (RADOM) from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

The inclusion of US instruments on Chandrayaan-1 has added fillip to the Indo-US cooperation in the space arena which dates back to the very beginning of the Indian space programme. More recently, the India-US Conference on Space Science, Applications and Commerce held at Bangalore during in June 2004 led to the setting up of a Joint Working Group to enhance the cooperation in civil space between India and USA. The Joint Working Group, comprising representatives of government, academic institutions and industries, had its first meeting in Bangalore in June 2005.

During the signing of MOU today, senior NASA and US Embassy officials and senior officials from ISRO and Ministry of External Affairs were present. Dr Griffin also visited the laboratories at ISAC and interacted with senior scientists. He would also be visiting Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre at Thiruvananthapuram and Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR at Sriharikota.