My Science School

          For decades, scientists have been searching for the evidences of the presence of water on the lunar surface. On its landing on the Moon, Chandrayaan 1 confirmed the presence of water on the Moon.

          The Moon Impact Probe on Chandrayaan 1 had discovered traces of water ice on the lunar surface. The Moon Mineralogy Mapper, another instrument in Chandrayaan 1’s payload detected absorption features on the lunar surface. This feature was more prominent in cooler high latitudes. The lunar scientists confirmed that the water on the Moon was scattered throughout its surface in sheets of ice and some water was locked up in minerals.

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         The Moon Impact Probe (MIP) is the first ever Indian made object to reach the surface of the Moon. It is famous for discovering the presence of water on the Moon. This probe is the result of the vision of our former president Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. He believed that India should not be left behind in the exploration of the Moon.

          The MIP was launched on 22 October, 2008 and weighed 34 kilograms at the time of its launch. It is box shaped and contained three instruments within- a C-band radar altimeter to measure the altitude of the probe, a mass spectrometer for measuring the constituents of the lunar atmosphere, and a video imaging system to take photographs of the lunar surface.

          The MIP separated from the orbiter on 14 November, 2008 and had a controlled landing on the lunar South Pole. The main objective of the MIP was to demonstrate the qualifying technology for any future soft landing.

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          Chandrayaan 1 serves as one of the best examples of the successful collaboration between various space research centres around the world. Six out of the eleven payloads were developed in association with the European Space Agency, NASA, and the space agencies of Bulgaria, Sweden and Germany. The other instruments were the result of the fruitful labour and technological expertise of Indian space scientists.

          All the payloads were used to learn more about the composition of the Moon. They performed activities like monitoring the radiations on the lunar surface, searching for water ice, and different types of mappings including chemical mapping, surface mapping and magnetic field mapping.

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          Payloads are the scientific instruments carried aboard in a spacecraft. Chandrayaan 1 went to the Moon carrying a total of eleven instruments- five Indian instruments and six foreign instruments that altogether weighed 90 kilograms.

          The Indian instruments included a Terrain Mapping Camera that captures black and white images to map the topography of the Moon, a Hyper Spectral Imager that would perform mineralogical mapping, and a Lunar Ranging Instrument that would help in determining the height of the surface topography. India also sent a High Energy aj/gamma x-ray spectrometer (HEX), and the Moon Impact Probe developed by the ISRO.

          The instruments from other countries included a Radiation Dose Monitor Experiment (RADOM 7), Moon Mineralogy Mapper, a near infrared spectrometer, X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, a Mini SAR, and the Sub-keV Atom Reflecting Analyzer.

          Though these names sound complicated, all of them were deployed to understand the Moon.

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          On 22, October, 2008, Indians woke up to news that made each one of them proud. India had successfully launched its first mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan 1. This lunar probe was launched by the ISRO from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota with the help of a PSLV C-11 rocket.

          Chandrayaan 1 was an unmanned lunar exploration that included a lunar orbiter and a Moon Impact Probe. It entered the lunar orbit on 8 November 2008. On 14 November, 2008, the Moon Impact Probe separated successfully from the Chandrayaan orbiter and landed on the lunar South Pole. The location of its impact is known as Jawahar Point.

          Though Chandrayaan 1 was intended to survey the surface of the Moon for two years, the ground control lost contact with the probe ten months after its launch. It also had some technical issues like poor thermal shielding and the failure of the star tracker.

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          Like many other countries, India too wanted to send people to the Moon. When Indian scientists worked out the plan for a mission to the Moon, they wanted to design, develop and launch a spacecraft to the Moon using a launch vehicle made in India. This would upgrade India’s technological expertise, provide ample experience of space technology and prepare India for future planetary explorations.

          Chandrayaan 1 aimed at mapping the Moon in terms of minerals, elements and topography that would help in the preparation of a three dimensional atlas of the Moon. It also includes the search for the presence of water and ice on the Moon. Though the contact with the lunar probe was lost after ten months of its launch, Chandrayaan 1 was a grand success; it completed almost all of the major objectives of the mission.

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          India is a major force in space research. In 1975, India launched its first satellite named Aryabhatta. A few years later, our country sent two remote sensing satellites into orbit- Bhaskara I and II in 1979 and 1981 respectively. These satellites were launched to observe the Earth.

          In 1979, India launched a series of satellites named Rohini. Rohini helped our scientists to understand the technology behind the functioning of larger rockets better. Later, India developed its first satellite launch vehicle- SLV 3. On July 18, 1980, SLV 3 made its first launch- the launch of satellite Rohini that weighed 40 kilograms. After SLV 3, India successfully developed PSLV and GSLV.

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          The Indian Space Research Organisation, popularly known as the ISRO heads India’s space research. ISRO is headquartered at Bangalore. K. Sivan currently serves as the chairman of ISRO.

          ISRO aims at harnessing space technology for national development. It was set up 50 years ago in 1969; the same year Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon. ISRO is credited with the milestones in Indian space research like the first satellite, the first rocket, and the first satellite launch vehicle. The notable achievements of ISRO include the launch of lunar orbiter Chandrayaan 1 launched in 2008, and the Mars Orbiter Mission, also known as Mangalyaan launched in 2013. ISRO recently launched Chandrayaan 2, its second lunar mission. The future endeavours of ISRO include the development of a reusable launch vehicle, human spaceflight, a space station, and a solar spacecraft mission.

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          The Lunar Prospector was a part of NASA’s Discovery Programme, a series of low cost space missions to explore the solar system. It was designed over 19 months in order to carry out a low polar orbit investigation of the Moon. Its objectives were to map the surface composition of the Moon including polar ice deposits, to measure magnetic and gravitational fields, and to study other lunar phenomena.

          A detailed map of the surface composition of the Moon was made from the data obtained from the Lunar Prospector. After gathering necessary information about the presence of water ice in the poles, the Lunar Prospector was deliberately crashed into a crater near the lunar South Pole.

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          After the 1970s, the Moon was largely left unexplored till the 1990s. Moon exploration began again in the 1990s with the US sending three probes that took new pictures and explored the lunar surface with more scientifically advanced instruments.

          The orbiter Galileo passed by the Moon twice in 1990 and 1992, while taking a roundabout path to Jupiter. In 1994, Clementine orbited the Moon. Four years later, Lunar Prospector was placed in the orbit around the Moon. Both Clementine and Lunar Prospector returned with evidences of the presence of water on the lunar surface, something that scientists had long believed existed. However, when the Lunar Prospector crashed onto the surface of the Moon in 1999, it failed to detect the presence of water in the debris.

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          Apollo 17 was the last spacecraft of NASA’s Apollo mission. It was launched in December, 1972. Commanded by Eugene Cernan, the crew consisted of Ronald Evans and Harrison Schmitt.

          Apollo 17 also carried out biological experiments on five mice- Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum and Phooey. These five mice travelled from the Earth along with the astronauts and circled the Moon 75 times! Radiation monitors were implanted under their scalp to see whether they would suffer any damage from cosmic rays. One of the mice died while the other four were either killed or dissected for further studies upon their return.

          Cernan and Schmitt landed on the Moon, completed three moonwalks, and collected lunar samples that would give evidences of volcanic activity in lunar highlands.

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          Apollo 13 was the third mission aimed at landing on the Moon and was launched on April 11, 1970. Unfortunately, one of the oxygen tanks in the service module exploded. This happened because of the explosion of the fuel cell tank that resulted in the loss of power and oxygen. An insulation wire inside the tank was damaged which led to the explosion. Therefore, the crew had to cancel the plan to land on the Moon. However, they orbited around the Moon and returned safe on April 17, 1970.

          Apollo 13 was commanded by Jim Lovell and the crew included Jack Swigert and Fred Haise.

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          We know about the humans who landed on the Moon for the first time. But who was the first one to drive a lunar rover? David Scott and James Irwin, the crew of Apollo 15 are credited with this remarkable achievement.

          Apollo 15 was the fourth spacecraft to land on the Moon. It stayed on the Moon for a longer time than the other spacecraft and had a sharper scientific objective. David Scott and James Irwin landed near Hadley Rill. They travelled further from the lunar module with the help of a lunar rover and surveyed the local area. They spent eighteen and a half hours on the surface of the Moon, collecting almost 77 kilograms of surface material. While David and James explored the lunar surface, Alfred Worden, the Command Module Pilot orbited the Moon to collect data.

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