India will soon be launching its first lunar space probe, with two payloads from the United States, in April 2008. It is also studying the possibility of sending a man to space.
The design reviews are over. We are building and testing about six instruments which are to go on board the mission. The window for the launch will open in April. The exact date will depend on the position of the moon and other parameters. We will be looking for Helium 3 and traces of water on the lunar surface. In a year’s time we will submit to the government a report on whether a manned space mission is needed. It will cost about Rs 100 billion,
said Madhavan Nair, chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
Europe has already ventured in this regard and china is ready for launching a mission in this regard later this year. Europe’s first spacecraft to the moon, Smart-1, reached the lunar surface on September 3, 2006. Japan is also planning a lunar probe.
There is global interest in exploring the moon. In the last few years, Isro has built a robust launch capability. They can now afford to think of a lunar mission without looking at how much money is being spent,
said Roddam Narasimha, professor emeritus of the National Institute of Advanced Studies.
India’s unmanned Chandrayaan-1 is on a two-year mission to the moon’s surface. It will examine the lunar surface for chemicals and minerals using a spectrometer and terrain-mapping cameras. The probe will land an “impacter” onto the moon and collect data.
The moon mission cost India, Rs 3.9 billion ($96.3 million). The U.S. has contributed with one miniature radar and a mineral mapper from the US, one from the European Space Agency and another from Bulgaria.
Since the successful launch of PSLV-C8 in April, Indian space department is upbeat. The mission, India’s first commercial launch placed an Italian satellite in orbit.
Nair very pleased with the progress, said,
This was one of the very successful missions against high competition from other players. The result is that the international community is very appreciative of our launch capability. Slowly we hope to enter into the launch of other satellites on a commercial basis. We are discussing this with other nations. With the GSLV-Mk III we are targeting a cost reduction of at least 40 per cent. We are trying to bring down the cost to $12,000.
India imports electric equipment required for spacecraft and launch applications from Europe and Asia and hopes U.S. will lift restrictions on India in this regard. A dialogue is already in progress in this regard with the U.S.
If the US eases export regulations for space equipment, commerce between India and the US can double from the existing $12 million a year. That is one of the constraints we are facing at the moment. Still “in the space science area we have achieved a breakthrough by carrying two US payloads,
Nair hoped.
