Isro, We Have a Problem

Isro has announced the imminent demise of its first moon mission Chandrayaan-1

Isro has announced the imminent demise of its first moon mission with an onboard sensor on the spacecraft, Chandrayaan-1, failing due to suspected solar radiation. The spacecraft is set to crash onto the lunar surface within weeks.

Isro chairman G Madhavan Nair said the space agency had suspected the malfunction in April-end itself when the craft seemed to lose its orientation. The sensor helps determine the spacecraft’s altitude. A probe revealed the star sensor and a power system had failed.

Ninety five per cent of all experiments had been concluded, Nair said, adding it had sent 70,000 images of the moon’s surface that were previously unseen. However, the premature wind-up may advance some other planned lunar and space activities, including a manned mission to space and the moon.

“We need to finetune some systems before we are ready for manned missions,’’ Nair said. Chandrayaan-1, the nation’s first lunar mission launched on 22 October, had cost Rs 386 crore.

Chandrayaan-IIsrolunar missionspacecraft