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NATION
BRIEFS Moon mission: All you wanted to
Court info
for all
New Delhi, Oct. 20
(PTI): The Central Infor-
know before the lift-off tomorrow
he countdown began on help India join future collabo-
mation Commission has
ruled that a cause list,
T Monday for Wednesday’s
launch of Chandrayaan-1,
THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS rative international space
projects. The high cost of
which gives details of India’s unmanned moon mis- space exploration is expected
cases to be taken up in a sion, from the Sriharikota to nudge many countries into
court on a particular spaceport. “The countdown a collaborative mode. Chan-
day, is a public document started at 5.20am today (Mon- drayaan-1 itself symbolises
which any citizen can in- day). The 52-hour countdown collaboration — with six for-
spect. has been optimised to 49 eign-made instruments.
The commission has hours,” Isro said.
questioned Delhi High Answers to frequently How much does the current
Court’s decision to ask asked questions about the programme cost?
an RTI applicant “reaso- mission follow: Rs 386 crore. This includes
ns for seeking the infor- Rs 100 crore for two giant an-
mation”. What is India sending to the tennas for India’s deep space
moon now? tracking network that will be
Chandrayaan-1, a cuboid- used in all future deep space
Malaysia trial shaped spacecraft designed to missions.
orbit the moon for two years. Chandrayaan-1 costs less
Kuala Lumpur (PTI): Ten instruments aboard the than a Boeing 737-800 ($70 mil-
An ethnic Indian activi- spacecraft will map the lunar lion to $79 million, according
st of the outlawed Hindu surface, search for ice near the to the plane manufacturer’s
Rights Action Force we-
nt on trial on Monday for
sedition for alleging that
the Malaysian govern-
ment practised “ethnic
cleansing” policies, but HOW LONG HOW
denounced the charge as
“malicious persecuti-
WILL THE MUCH
on”. P. Uttayakumar had JOURNEY DOES IT
been detained for “incit-
ing racial hatred” after
TAKE? COST?
he organised a rally to
protest the marginalisa- The Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft at the Isro centre in Bangalore
tion of ethnic Indians in A launch on Oct. 22 will
the country in Novem- rocket — the Polar Satellite expected to guide future lunar drayaan-1 at launch will be above the lunar surface. A weather observation and re-
Rs 386 crore,
allow the spacecraft to less than half the
ber last year. Launch Vehicle. About 20 min- missions. The Bulgarian in- only 1,400kg. A manned mis- Russian spacecraft Luna 1 was mote-sensing satellites. Devel-
approach its lunar orbit cost of a new IIT
around Nov. 8 utes after lift-off, it will be strument measures radiation sion demands sending a much the first to fly near the moon at oping launch vehicles, satel-
LOOK ALIKE hurled into an initial elliptical in the moon’s vicinity and heavier payload into space — a distance of about 6,000km on lites and ground segments re-
orbit around Earth. A series of could help in planning shield- estimated to be about 10,000kg. January 4, 1959. But the first quired for this task took time.
lunar poles, study the mineral orbit-boosting manoeuvres ing requirements for future Isro engineers are working to- true lunar orbiter was Rus- It was only in the mid-1990s website) and the total bill for
composition of the moon and will then move the spacecraft manned missions. wards building a rocket for sia’s Luna 10 which went that senior Isro officials began this round is less than half
assess the radiation environ- to greater distances from Chandrayaan-1 is intended such a payload as well as a two- around the moon for 60 days in pitching ideas about space- the cost of a new Indian Insti-
ment on the moon. Three sci- Earth until it slips into the to be the first of a series of lun- astronaut capsule. April-May 1966. craft to explore the moon and tute of Technology (Rs 800
entific instruments from the lunar orbit about 18 days after ar and possibly planetary mis- A manned mission also re- beyond. crore).
European Space Agency, two the launch. sions. India and Russia plan to quires capability for capsule Are other Asian countries In one unique exercise,
from Nasa and one from Bul- collaborate on Chandrayaan-2 recovery, safety and life-sup- pursuing lunar missions? about eight years ago, Isro Do the gains justify the
garia will piggyback on Chan- What is the use of this mi- that will land on the moon and port. Isro demonstrated its China and Japan are. Jap- asked some of its young scien- costs?
drayaan-1 that carries four In- ssion? carry a rover to cruise around first successful capsule recov- an launched Hiten, its first lu- tists — known as the Space Space scientists will say an
dian-made instruments. The lunar orbiter will its surface. Isro has already ery experiment last year. India nar probe in 1990, and Kaguya, Generation Task Group beca- emphatic yes. Critics may say
The spacecraft also carries allow India to test its capabili- initiated in-house studies on has yet to develop technolo- its second lunar orbiter in Sep- use members were born after the money could have been
A dog-owner dressed an impactor probe, an instru- ties in deep space missions. A missions to Mars, some aster- gies for life-support. The US tember 2007. China launched 1957 (year of the Sputnik) — to used to solve problems on
like her Miniature ment equipped with a radar al- successful mission is expected oids and comets. initiated its manned Apollo its lunar orbiter, Change’e-I, in pencil their visions of what Earth.
Pincher at an event in timeter that will be ejected to boost India’s image in the missions in the late 1960s only October 2007 to study the lu- India should be doing in space
Hyderabad. (AP) from Chandrayaan-1 to fall community of space-faring If Chandrayaan-1 is suc- after several lunar fly-bys and nar environment and surface. in the years to come. Space ex- If I pay, can I be the first In-
onto the lunar surface. The de- nations, even though it is more cessful, when can we put an orbiter missions by un- ploration was high on the list. dian on the moon?
vice was developed at the than four decades since Russ- Indian on the moon? manned spacecraft. Why did it take India so We’re too far away from
Gay case Vikram Sarabhai Space Cen-
tre, Thiruvananthapuram.
ian and US spacecraft made
the first fly-bys of the moon.
Putting a man on the moon
requires — first of all — the Which country did this
long to do this?
For nearly four decades,
Does India stand to gain
from the entire mission?
this question. Commercial fli-
ghts to the moon are not a real-
New Delhi (PTI): Del- Chandrayaan-1 will ride The instruments aboard capability for manned space first? Isro concentrated on applying Isro officials believe estab- ity yet from anywhere in the
hi High Court on Mond- into space aboard an upgraded Chandrayaan-1 are intended flight which India has not India is sending a space- space technology to develop- lishing its credentials in world.
ay said homosexuality version of India’s workhorse to gather scientific data that is demonstrated yet. Chan- craft to orbit the moon 100km ing telecommunication, deep space exploration would G.S. MUDUR
could not be said to be a
disease. It objected to the
government’s contenti-
on describing it as an ail-
ment which, if legalised, Long questions off Naren
Short service plan to
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