ISRO’s Moon Mission by September 2008

India’s first unmanned moon mission will be launched by September this year, according to Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Chairman G Madhavan Nair.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the International Conference on Aerospace Science and Technology in Bangalore on Thursday, Nair said the precise date for the launch of the unmanned moon mission Chandrayaan – 1 will be finalized next month.

“ISRO may not be able to confirm the date of the launch of its first unmanned moon mission Chandrayaan – 1 until next month, but what is sure is that the launch will happen by September 2008”, Nair said.

Briefing reporters about the readiness of ISRO for the moon mission, which would provide a total mapping of the moon for the first time, Nair said the two-year mission would cost about $ 100 million, including the lunar spacecraft that would orbit the moon at an altitude of 100 kms.

“There are a lot of expectations from this mission”, he said. However, Chandrayaan –1 will not make a landing on the moon. But, its sequel Chandrayaan –2 scheduled for 2012 will have a landing rover touching down on the lunar surface.

The first moon mission will provide data that will facilitate the second one. While the first mission will carry out lunar mapping and hunt for traces of water on the moon’s surface, the second one to be launched in collaboration with Russia will seek to collect as many samples as possible, besides looking for rare elements, he said.

Though there were plans to tap helium on the moon through a joint venture with a foreign partner, the proposal was still at a conceptual stage. “But, once we know whether helium is there, we can proceed to the next stage”, he said. The proposal to tap helium from the lunar surface for future power generation was before ISRO as it is considered to be one of the cleanest gases, Nair said.
The experience from the first two moon missions is expected to help ISRO consider a manned mission to moon.