Chandrayan I (Chandra=Moon, yan=Ship) is the name for a mission of the Indian space agencies to send an unmanned spacecraft to the Moon which will then take a polar orbit around.
The satellite will weigh around 525 kg and carries high resolution remote sensing equipment for visible, near infrared, soft and hard X-ray frequencies. During two years, it is supposed to survey the lunar surface to produce a complete map of its chemical characteristics and 3-dimensional topography. Especially the polar regions are of interest, as they might contain water ice.
In September 2004, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) announced in a press statement that planning has now made enough progress that they are confident that the mission will take place in 2007 or 2008.
They estimate the cost to be only INR 3.8 billion (US$ 83 million). The idea of a manned mission had been ruled out as considered to be too costly (INR 100 billion = US$ 2.2 billion).
External links
Chrandrayaan-1 Announcement of Opportunity (http://www.isro.org/chandrayaan-1/announcement.htm) and home page (http://www.isro.org/chandrayaan-1/) from ISRO
US space agency NASA is to enter into an agreement with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Tuesday to send two scientific instruments on board Chandrayaan-I, the country's first unmanned moon mission.
Said the official: "The American instruments will be part of the Chandrayaan payload, which will have 15-20 instruments, including 11 from India and three from the European Space Agency.
Chandrayaan-I will be launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota on the east coast of Andhra Pradesh, using the new polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV).
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