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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 0508.PDF
ASIAN AEROSPACE 2002 LUNAR ALLURE India may soon become locked in a race with China to be the first developing country to send a probe to the moon RADHAKRISHNA RAO / BANGALORE India began its space journey in a modest way in 1963 with the launch of a 9kg (201b) sounding rocket from a research facility at Thumba, a fish ing hamlet on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram, state capital of Kerala. The ambitious south Asian country is now on the verge of launching an unmanned mission to moon. India's proposed lunar probe, the go- ahead for which is still awaiting govern ment approval, has moved further up New Delhi's priority list in the wake of the emergence of China's plans to send a probe to moon by the middle of this decade in association with the European Space Agency (ESA). A lunar attempt is one of several possible joint space missions being discussed by China and the ESA. Whether or not India will become the first developing country to reach the moon - or whether China will achieve this dis tinction - is difficult to determine. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has made it clear that it will be able to send a mission to moon within five years of get ting the go-ahead from the government. The ISRO can trace its history back to June 1972 when the organisation was established under the government's Space Commission and Department of Space, with the objective of developing satellites, launch vehicles, sounding rockets and their associated ground systems. In August 2000, Vasundara Raje, minis ter of state in the prime minister's office, told the Indian parliament that the Indian lunar mission would boost the country's scientific capabilities and strengthen its competence in areas such as space naviga tion and robotics. She also argued that India cannot remain a "mute spectator" to worldwide interest in the moon, rekindled by the discovery of what is believed to be water on the lunar surface. On the other hand ISRO chairman Dr K Kasturirangan is keen to turn India into a global space power and believes the coun try should also take a prominent role in international efforts to push back the boundaries of space exploration. However, India's proposed lunar probe is a clear deviation from the basic philosophy of the Indian space programme: harness ing the potential of space technology for the socio-economic development of the country. With modest budgetary support, the ISRO has been successful in designing, During its first commercial flight in May 1999, the PSLV launched India's IRS-P4 ocean- watch satellites developing, launching and using a string of earth observation and communications spacecraft to support wide-ranging devel opmental activities in the country. The indigenous Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) series of remote sensing satel lites and the Insat series of communica tions spacecraft are the cornerstones on which the Indian space programme rests. More than three decades ago, Dr Vikram A Sarabhai, widely regarded as the architect of the Indian space programme, outlined what he considered should be India's objective in space: "We do not have the fantasy of competing with the economi cally advanced nations in the exploration of the moon or planets or unmanned flights. But we are convinced that to play a meaningful role nationally and in the community of nations, we must be second to none in the application of advanced technologies to the real problems of man and society which we find in our country." However, the ISRO is now of the view that an Indian moon probe will go a long way towards solving many of the least understood lunar mysteries. Furthermore, the Indian government believes the lunar mission is a logical extension of India's growing prowess in sectors such as com puter programming, nuclear energy and stem cell research. Landing challenge The ISRO says: "A lunar mission can pro vide impetus to science in India, a chal lenge to technology and possibly a new dimension to international co-operation. It can also serve as a testbed for missions that can be undertaken by India to explore the outer world in the new millennium." The ISRO says it has the option of send ing either a fly-by mission or a lunar orbiter. The latter would allow scientists to study the moon at close quarters by orbit ing, rather than conducting a single fly past. For now, however, building a space craft for a soft landing on the lunar surface to collect, process and transmit data back to earth will be a difficult proposition. As such, the most attractive option before the ISRO is sending an orbiter. The Ahmedabad-based Physical Research Laboratory, the cradle of space sciences research in India, is equipped to fabricate the experimental package for the mission, while the ISRO Satellite Centre is capable of designing and developing a lunar orbiter indigenously. ISRO scientists believe that the key objectives of the Indian moon mission could include inves tigation of the particulate and radiation environment around the moon and the detailed mapping of the lunar surface and atmosphere with high-resolution stereo scopic photography to provide detailed, 56 19-25 FEBRUARY 2002 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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