ID :
29226
Sun, 11/09/2008 - 00:38
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/29226
The shortlink copeid
Chandrayaan-I placed in lunar orbit
Bangalore, Nov.8 (PTI) India's maiden moon mission
--Chandrayaan-I--Saturday entered the tricky lunar orbit after
scientists successfully carried out a most critical
manaoeuvre, 18 days after it was fired into outer space.
Space scientists at the Indian Space Research
Organisation (I.S.R.O.) carried out the lunar orbit insertion
by firing the liquid engines on board the spacecraft for 817
seconds.
"The lunar orbit insertion (L.O.I.) began at 4:50 p.m.
and lasted for 817 seconds (14 minutes)," I.S.R.O.
spokesperson S. Satish told PTI. The satellite has been placed
in a 7,502 km X 500 km elliptical orbit around the moon, he
said.
Heaving a sigh of relief, I.S.R.O. chief G Madhavan Nair
said Saturday's operation was the "most critical moment" in
the mission.
"We have done it," a visbly happy Nair declared.
"For the last 20 minutes, almost all our hearts were at
a standstill," Nair said from a ground centre near Bangalore.
The spacecraft, launched on October 22, had been placed
in the Lunar Transfer Trajectory on November four.
The mission, orbiting the earth at a distance of 3,86,000
km, was commandeered from I.S.R.O's Telemetry, Tracking and
Command Network (I.S.T.R.A.C) at Peenya on the outskirts of
the city with aid from the Indian Deep Space Network
(I.D.S.N.) at Byalalu.
Chandrayaan-I would now be lowered gradually and placed
in a circular orbit at a distance of 100 km from the lunar
surface.
The successful lunar orbit insertion(L.O.I.) was an
important milestone for the Rs 386 crore moon mission whose
success depended on Saturday's hit or miss manoeuvre.
According to space experts, the challenging L.O.I. was
not without danger because it meant traversing through an area
in which the gravitational forces of the earth and moon nearly
cancel each other out.
Consequently, even a small deviation could send the
spacecraft into a frash course towards the moon or earth--or
on a path leading into deep space.
Experts recall that about 30 percent of unamnned moon
missions of the U.S. and former Soviet Union failed during
L.O.I. phase.
--Chandrayaan-I--Saturday entered the tricky lunar orbit after
scientists successfully carried out a most critical
manaoeuvre, 18 days after it was fired into outer space.
Space scientists at the Indian Space Research
Organisation (I.S.R.O.) carried out the lunar orbit insertion
by firing the liquid engines on board the spacecraft for 817
seconds.
"The lunar orbit insertion (L.O.I.) began at 4:50 p.m.
and lasted for 817 seconds (14 minutes)," I.S.R.O.
spokesperson S. Satish told PTI. The satellite has been placed
in a 7,502 km X 500 km elliptical orbit around the moon, he
said.
Heaving a sigh of relief, I.S.R.O. chief G Madhavan Nair
said Saturday's operation was the "most critical moment" in
the mission.
"We have done it," a visbly happy Nair declared.
"For the last 20 minutes, almost all our hearts were at
a standstill," Nair said from a ground centre near Bangalore.
The spacecraft, launched on October 22, had been placed
in the Lunar Transfer Trajectory on November four.
The mission, orbiting the earth at a distance of 3,86,000
km, was commandeered from I.S.R.O's Telemetry, Tracking and
Command Network (I.S.T.R.A.C) at Peenya on the outskirts of
the city with aid from the Indian Deep Space Network
(I.D.S.N.) at Byalalu.
Chandrayaan-I would now be lowered gradually and placed
in a circular orbit at a distance of 100 km from the lunar
surface.
The successful lunar orbit insertion(L.O.I.) was an
important milestone for the Rs 386 crore moon mission whose
success depended on Saturday's hit or miss manoeuvre.
According to space experts, the challenging L.O.I. was
not without danger because it meant traversing through an area
in which the gravitational forces of the earth and moon nearly
cancel each other out.
Consequently, even a small deviation could send the
spacecraft into a frash course towards the moon or earth--or
on a path leading into deep space.
Experts recall that about 30 percent of unamnned moon
missions of the U.S. and former Soviet Union failed during
L.O.I. phase.
