Robotic probes in India's mission to the moon

Friday, 13 February 2004, 20:30 IST
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AHMEDABAD: India has plans to send a robotic probe to the moon as part of its mission to map its mineral contents. P.N. Shankara, director of the city-based Space Application Centre (SAC) of the Indian space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), said robotic probes would be part of the satellite mission Chandrayan-1. He was delivering a lecture Thursday evening on India's space programme. "The ISRO mission aims to map the entire mineral contents of the moon. As part of the mission, we are thinking of dropping robotic probes on to the moon," he said. A formal decision would be taken after approval from the central government, he added. The 'Mission to Moon' involves placing a satellite that would revolve around the moon. The challenge before ISRO is to send the satellite up to 350,000 km, halt it a few km away from the moon, place it in orbit and then ensure that it transmits signals back to earth, Shankara explained. It is planned that the satellite would come within a distance of 100 km from the moon at one point of its orbit. The robotic probes would be delivered on the surface of the moon from that point. The mission is slated for 2007. Work on the development of the satellite and its payload is going on at various ISRO centres across the country, he said. ISRO is also getting ready to launch EduSat, a satellite exclusively dedicated to education, by July. Planned in association with the union ministry of human resource development, the satellite would help improve availability of educational resources in remote areas, said Shankara, who was being felicitated for being honoured with the Padma Shri recently.
Source: IANS
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