Volume 20 - Issue 16, August 02 - 15, 2003
SPECIAL FEATURE: ISRO
Mission to the moon
T.S. SUBRAMANIAN
`SOMAYANA 1' - that is the name of the Indian spacecraft that will journey to the moon in about five years, pending formal clearance of the project by the government. It will ride on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), which will deploy it at a height of 100 km from the moon. The orbiter or spacecraft will observe the moon from various angles, and beam back pictures on its chemical, physical and physio-chemical characteristics, besides its crater history. The orbiter will also survey the minerals on the moon. The information received is expected to throw light on the origin and evolution of the moon and other bodies of the planetary system, and how life evolved on the earth.
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