Thiruvananthapuram: As the Chandrayaan I satellite treads a circular path around the moon, the latter is throwing up challenges to ISRO scientists as they strive for a successful completion of the two-year mission.
ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair said here on Sunday that owing to the volatile nature of the moon, temperature inside the satellite had gone up by ten degrees. This could hamper sensitive instruments inside the satellite.
``We’re trying to artificially cool it now,’’ he said delivering the Regent Maharani Setu Lakshmi Bayi Memorial Lecture marking her 113th birth anniversary. ``It’s a risky mission,’’ he said, speaking on the theme `India’s Recent Space Achievements.’ If things go as planned, ISRO will be able to create the first lunar atlas with a picture resolution of below ten metres, he said. The ISRO expects to take one-and-a-half years to complete the mapping with the Terrain Mapping Camera on board the satellite.
ISRO will soon launch the `Aditya’ satellite which will be positioned in the earth orbit and study the sun, and how solar phenomena affects the earth’s ionosphere and atmosphere, Madhavan Nair said. ISRO has started work on the Chandrayaan II Mission and the design was ready. The mission, which envisages a rover, is expected to lift off in 2012.
On a manned mission by India to the moon, Madhavan Nair said India can maintain its position among spacefaring nations if the ISRO can put a man on the moon by 2020. ``Only two nations - China and the US - have plans for a manned mission to the moon. They plan to do it by 2020. If India too can do it by then, we can maintain our position,’’ he said.
Uthradam Thirunal Marthanda Varma, head of the Travancore Royal Family, presented Madhavan Nair with a Travancore sovereign.
ISRO scientists who were the architects of the Chandrayaan Mission K. Radhakrishnan, M.K.G. Nair, P.S. Veeraraghavan, S. Ramakrishnan, V. Adimurthy, George Koshy and C. Venugopal were honoured on the occasion.
Law Minister M.Vijayakumar inaugurated the function which was organised by the Thiruvananthapuram Kshatriya Kshema Sabha.
ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair said here on Sunday that owing to the volatile nature of the moon, temperature inside the satellite had gone up by ten degrees. This could hamper sensitive instruments inside the satellite.
``We’re trying to artificially cool it now,’’ he said delivering the Regent Maharani Setu Lakshmi Bayi Memorial Lecture marking her 113th birth anniversary. ``It’s a risky mission,’’ he said, speaking on the theme `India’s Recent Space Achievements.’ If things go as planned, ISRO will be able to create the first lunar atlas with a picture resolution of below ten metres, he said. The ISRO expects to take one-and-a-half years to complete the mapping with the Terrain Mapping Camera on board the satellite.
ISRO will soon launch the `Aditya’ satellite which will be positioned in the earth orbit and study the sun, and how solar phenomena affects the earth’s ionosphere and atmosphere, Madhavan Nair said. ISRO has started work on the Chandrayaan II Mission and the design was ready. The mission, which envisages a rover, is expected to lift off in 2012.
On a manned mission by India to the moon, Madhavan Nair said India can maintain its position among spacefaring nations if the ISRO can put a man on the moon by 2020. ``Only two nations - China and the US - have plans for a manned mission to the moon. They plan to do it by 2020. If India too can do it by then, we can maintain our position,’’ he said.
Uthradam Thirunal Marthanda Varma, head of the Travancore Royal Family, presented Madhavan Nair with a Travancore sovereign.
ISRO scientists who were the architects of the Chandrayaan Mission K. Radhakrishnan, M.K.G. Nair, P.S. Veeraraghavan, S. Ramakrishnan, V. Adimurthy, George Koshy and C. Venugopal were honoured on the occasion.
Law Minister M.Vijayakumar inaugurated the function which was organised by the Thiruvananthapuram Kshatriya Kshema Sabha.