Posted on 09/19/2008 6:47:36 AM PDT by DYngbld
India's moon mission may lift off Oct 19
Bangalore/New Delhi, Sep 18 : Weather permitting, India's maiden moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, may lift off Oct 19 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, scientists associated with the odyssey indicated Thursday.
"The tentative date is Oct 19," they said in Bangalore after completing all the work on the cuboid-shaped 590 kg spacecraft that will carry 11 payloads.
Meanwhile, the government Thursday approved a sequel to the mission few years down the line.
"The union cabinet today gave its approval for undertaking lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 and upgrading the associated existing ground segment at a total cost of Rs.425 crores (Rs.4.25 bn)," Information and Broadcasting Minister P.R. Dasmunsi told reporters in New Delhi after a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Chandrayaan-1 will be launched by indigenous Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and will carry payloads of six foreign countries - the US, Britain, Germany, Sweden and Bulgaria - apart from those of India.
Scientists said that the Chadrayaan-1 spacecraft will be shipped later this month, most likely on Sep 30, to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota for the launch.
"We have completed the integration of the satellite," Chandrayaan-1 director M. Annadurai told reporters at ISRO Satellite Centre in Bangalore.
Chandrayaan-1, estimated to cost nearly Rs.4 billion, will beam back digital elevation maps of the moon and its mineral concentration, as also carry out environmental studies and measure radioactivity on the lunar surface.
It will try to find the traces of atomic elements such as Radon, Uranium and Thorium.
--- IANS
Outsourcing.
Please let me tell you that I am beside myself with excitement in the possibilities of what we are about to do.
Said in my indian accent similar to It’s alive number 5.
Assuming they get the fuse lit ...
“Does it have big T!Ts?”......
They are just trying to curry favor with the rest of the industry.
Maybe we can then answer the age old question:
Why does 7-11 have locks on its doors when it is open 24 hours a day?
Rhetorical question - Assuming they make it there safely (and back) [and we all hope they do], will they discover a space phenomenon as they are “standing besides themselves”?
:-)
I’m really confused. As a kid, I watched our space program evolve and in 8 years we went from launching a chimp into space, NASA landed a man on the moon. This was accomplished only through an increase in technology, guts, and the will to succeed.
How can the Hindus do a manned launch when they have ZERO expertise in this area. Even if they had ex-NASA engineers, they still don’t have the experience or money to put a man on the moon, let alone crash landing an unmanned rover.
They are using Chicken Vindaloo for fuel, they don't need to light that..
That's correct. It's hot enough to self ignite.
"Their goal is to build a spaceship that can reach Miami."
You mean Johnny Number bibe!
:’)
Please do not feed my rocket a peanut.
Thank you. Come again.
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