ISRO, NASA sign pact for Moon Mission

**OrdinaryGuy** · 09 May 06, 10:38

Well.. this small step would mark India's venture into research-based space exploration.

May 9, 2006: Moon mission on schedule, says ISRO chief »

US space agency NASA entered into an agreement with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Tuesday to send two scientific instruments on board Chandrayaan-I, the country's first unmanned moon mission scheduled for 2008.

NASA administrator Michael Griffin signed the MoU (memorandum of understanding) with ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair to send a mini synthetic aperture radar (miniSAR), developed by the agency's applied physics laboratory and a moon mineralogy mapper, built by the jet propulsion laboratory, an ISRO official said.

According to an 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. The lunar mission is to be launched in 2007-08.

A five-member NASA delegation, led by Griffin, will also hold discussions with ISRO officials on extending the Indo-US cooperation in space exploration as agreed during the visit of US President George W Bush to India in March.

During the Bush trip, both the countries had agreed to continue exploring cooperation in civil space, including areas such as space exploration, satellite navigation, and earth science.

The official said NASA had evinced interest in joining India's moon mission project.

Michael F O'Brien, NASA assistant administrator, will discuss with Indian space scientists the experiments to be conducted by the two US instruments on board Chandrayaan-I, which will circle around the lunar planet.

"Project work on the moon mission is on course. Most of our instruments are at various stages of development. Some of them are meant to map the lunar surface and study its mineral content. The spacecraft has already been designed for fabrication over the next 12 months along with its sub-systems," the official said.

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).

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/1...0,00040005.htm

**OrdinaryGuy** · 09 May 06, 10:41

More about moon mission:

India's quest to explore the space with Chandraayan I, an unmanned mission to the Moon, is on schedule, Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), G Madhavan Nair has said.

Inaugurating a Master Control Facility (MCF) at Bhopal on Monday, Nair dispelled apprehensions about a delay in the project and asserted that India would accomplish the Moon mission by 2008.

The rocket for the moon mission is being build and its components are being synchronised, he told reporters here.

MCF Bhopal, the second such facility of ISRO in the country after Hasan, would help in tracking ISRO's various satellites and its activities.

ISRO, he said, would be launching CARTOSAT-I, country's first satellite for cartography in May first week this year. CARTOSAT-I would have high-resolution cameras with a resolution of 2.5 meters, which would provide clear pictures taken from any satellite in the world, he added.

Referring to the launch capabilities of ISRO, he said that the world has acknowledged it and "we are offering better options for countries interested in launching their satellites." The organisation would be launching a European Satellite Agile in this quarter, he added.

Referring to the ISRO projects in Madhya Pradesh, he said the organisation is working on a project to link all schools in the remote areas with Edusat. Initially the project is being extended to the schools in the outskirts of Bhopal district and would be gradually expanded. Similarly, ISRO would be helping in revamping health facilities in the state with the use of telemedicine, he added.

ISRO is also looking forward to cooperate with major hospitals in the state for the purpose.

Earlier, MCF Bhopal, that became functional on Monday, took over the operations of INSAT 3E from MCF Hasan. Built in assistance with the Madhya Pradesh Housing Board (MPHB), MCF Bhopal will augment MCF Hasan to support operational requirements increasing number of satellites in the INSAT system. Presently, this facility is configured to monitor and control two geo-stationary satellites, but the number is likely to increase to six in the next few years.

Simultaneous satellite ranging from MCF Hasan and MCF Bhopal, which are separated by about 1000 km, will also improve the accuracy from the present 5 kms to 150 metres.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1315966,0008.htm

**anand1266** · 09 May 06, 11:30

india is definately one of the few countires that possess the technlogy to launch sats...most interresting innovation is actualluy waiting for is gslv mark4...

**Srirangan** · 09 May 06, 11:47

I read it is an unmanned mission to map the surface of the moon. How about a little mapping of the Maoist infested forests in central India?

Proactive Indian Activism

**indianguy4u** · 09 May 06, 11:51

How about starting with those commies who are supporting the GoI?

**Parihaka** · 09 May 06, 13:42

Well thats cool. I hadn't realised Indian rocketry had reached such an advanced state

**Tronic** · 09 May 06, 21:28

where have you been??? we've made extensive progress on the space program from the 80's all through 90's to present... and expecially when it has been all indegineous technology...

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