Chandrayaan-1, India's maiden moon mission set for launch on Wednesday from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, is the country's most ambitious scientific space expedition; previous space flights have been meant mostly for putting communications and other satellites into earth orbit. This is a significant stride in space technology because the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has thus far sent a satellite up to only around 36,000 km in space, whereas Chandrayaan-1 will travel 10 times as far, escaping earth’s gravity pull in doing so, to settle into a lunar orbit. This flight is a precursor to a manned mission to the moon, some six years from now. If all goes well, Chandrayaan-1 may even mark a site on the moon for the first Indian astronaut to put his/her feet on. For this, a specially fabricated instrument will be made to crash-land on the lunar surface and conduct impact studies and other investigations of the possible landing location for the manned lunar craft that is to follow. The Chandrayaan-1 project also involves looking for the presence of water in the form of lunar ice.
Successful space missions are great for national pride, and it goes without saying that that must be one of the objectives. The first Sputnik sent up by the Soviet Union half a century ago was meant to send a message about Soviet capability, and the US responded with its spectacular manned missions to the moon. China most recently has sent astronauts into space and the world watched one do a space walk the other day. Inevitably, therefore, there are those who question the need for such a venture—in part because the moon is not exactly unexplored. Isro’s response is that the wide-ranging objectives of this lunar expedition take it beyond previous investigations. Chandrayaan-1 is slated to carry as many as 11 scientific instruments, including five from the US, Sweden, Japan, Germany and Bulgaria, to help expand knowledge about the lunar atmosphere, evolution and, most importantly, its mineral wealth. The expedition will result in a high-resolution, three-dimensional atlas of both the near and far sides of the moon. Some of the instruments on board the spacecraft are designed specifically to explore and identify deposits of high atomic number elements, such as radon, uranium and thorium, which can serve as raw materials for nuclear power plants. What is of special interest is the probe into the possibility of locating helium-3, deemed a clean nuclear fuel that can help meet the world's energy needs.
It is also relevant that the Chandrayaan-1 project is not expensive. Its total cost is Rs 368 crore, including about Rs 100 crore for establishing the Deep Space Network near Bangalore, for receiving the signals from the satellite, which will be available for use by future projects as well. It so happens that, mainly because of the low cost of its scientific and technical manpower, Isro has a significant cost advantage when compared with the space organisations in other countries. There is no reason why this should not be developed into a long-term business advantage. But a key issue will be industrial spin-offs from space projects. Isro intends to get many components of the spacecraft custom-built by private suppliers, based on Isro’s designs.
Meanwhile, Isro plans to fabricate not only an updated version of its satellite launch vehicle but also a new launch pad for its Rs 1,000-crore manned lunar odyssey. It will use a fresh version of the geo-synchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV), as the polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) is incapable of catapulting a load that goes beyond 1,500 kg. These plans hinge on the success of the Chandrayaan-1 mission, so all eyes will be on Sriharikota on Wednesday morning.