TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2002
Moon within our reach: Isro
SRINIVAS LAXMAN
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
MUMBAI: The report of the lunar mission task force, which was constituted by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) last year, states that the moon is within India’s reach.
The report, which was submitted to Isro chairperson K. Kasturirangan in July, emphasises that this country has the technical capability to launch an unmanned flight to the moon in five years.
The task force was headed by George Joseph, former director of the Ahmedabad-based Space Applications Centre. Its other members included space scientists P C Agarwal of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai and N Bhandari of the Physical Research Laboratory at Ahmedabad. Its membersecretary was K. Thyagarajan of the Isro satellite centre in Bangalore.
Speaking to TNN from Ahmedabad on Monday, Joseph said, “Ours is the official report on India’s mission to the moon. Our studies clearly indicate that this country has the technical capability to launch this mission and place a satellite in the lunar orbit for carrying out scientific studies.”
He said it took quite some time to prepare the report because the task force members had to do a lot of research by carrying out computer simulations. Outlining some of the salient points in the recently- submitted report, he said:
The rocket to be used for the mission will be the highly-proven Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.
After launch, the satellite will be initially placed in a particular orbit (the geo-synchronous transfer orbit).
At this point, it will fire its thruster motors,which will raise the satellite to the lunar orbit. The flight from launch to the lunar orbit is expected to last for five days.
A deep space network for communication purposes has to be set up prior to embarking on the lunar mission. One such unit can be set up at the tracking centre at Bangalore.
The project will cost less than Rs 400 crore, which includes setting up the deep space network.
Joseph said the Indian moon project arose out of Kasturirangan’s vision to embark on such an exciting and challenging mission. According to Joseph, it has the backing of prestigious bodies like the Astronautical Society of India.
Once the Indian lunar mission is given the formal go-ahead by Kasturirangan, it will have be to be cleared at different levels in the government.
Copyright © 2002 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.