Clock is ticking, and there is only 6hrs from now (When I make this post) for the laucnh. ISRO will be straming the launch live on their site at 0550 – 0650 Hrs(IST).
- You can watch it live here: ISRO Official Website.
- See the clock ticking : Countdown for launch.
- Keep following @chandrayaan on twitter for mission updates.
- See the latest updated album at ISRO website.
Countdown for the vehicle launch is progressing in Sriharikotta and the launch will be at 06:21 AM Indian Standard Time.. According to the officials, the climate is expected to be favorable to the event. The system is undergoing the final checkups and Ground Testings now..
Also am not ashamed to say never expect any updates from ISRO official sites ! Because we can see that ISRO’s Chandrayaan Projects site is updated in last on 16 January 2008 !! Dont get amazed.. THeir sites are still in the 5th era of Internet !
Follow me on twitter for quick updates.. 
After a long time I logged into the Chandrayaan blog of mine.. But this time I came with an exciting new.. Ya everything is packed and ready on the launch pad.. with clocks ticking… Everyone might have already read the updates via news papers and TV news’s.. the Countdown for Indians first ever moon mission started at Sathish Dhawan Space Center, Srihari Kotta. And a historic moment that every Indians can Proud about their country !.
Get Instant Updates and Unofficial Messages about the Mission-I Here on the Twitter.
follow @chandrayaan on twitter.
Jai hind.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has joined the league of China, Japan, Russia, Europe and the United States in demonstrating “its complete self sufficiency in tracking deep space missions,” with the installation of its giant 32 metre antenna, said S.K. Shivakumar, Director, ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), speaking to presspersons here on Saturday.
The antenna, built indigenously, has been installed at the Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu, 40 km from Bangalore, to track and send commands to Chandrayaan I, ISRO’s first moon mission scheduled for launch on April 9, 2008.
The scientific mission intends to map the surface of the moon, its mineralogical composition and detect possible reserves of polar ice and the presence of Helium-3.
Byalalu was chosen as the location because of its distance from the city’s mobile network, among other reasons, Mr. Shivakumar said. The security personnel here, at 45, will be double the strength of the operations staff.
“We have now demonstrated our self-sufficiency in tracking and managing our own data. The IDSN will track all forthcoming deep space missions, but as the facility is of world standard it can be used by international space agencies as well.”
Mr. Shivakumar added that he foresaw “commercial opportunity” for IDSN.
“We have to now go in for performance testing,” he said. The antenna moves at a lower speed of 0.01 millidegrees per second, and at an upper speed of 0.4 millidegrees per second, with a vertical manoeuvrability of 90 degrees and capacity to rotate 270 degrees.
The 32-metre antenna joins an 18-metre antenna installed in 2006 on the 135-acre IDSN. The total cost of the Chandrayaan mission is Rs. 386 crore, of which the DSN was built at a cost of Rs. 100 crore.
Both the antennae will be operated from ISTRAC, located at Peenya. “We will have a third, 11-metre antenna here, to track Astrosat, a multi-wavelength scientific satellite, to be launched in 2009,” Mr. Shivakumar added.
‘No race to the moon’
When asked about the nine international missions competing to reach the moon, M. Annadurai, project director, Chandrayaan, said, “there is no race to the moon. It so happens that we are all working in the same time-frame.” ISRO, he said, had proved itself to be a “world leader in forging international links.” Chandrayaan I will have six international payloads, and Chandrayaan II (scheduled for a 2011 launch) was an Indo-Russian collaboration, he added.
ISRO officials also denied a report from a section of the media on Saturday that its INSAT-4CR satellite “disappeared” from the radar and reappeared after fifteen days, having lost five years of its life.
Via[TheHindu]
Here is another Video about the chandrayaan moon mission 2008 , Animated Overview brought you be Thejes Inc.
NASA is planning to bring Indian American astronaut Sunita Williams, who set a record
for spacewalks by a female astronaut, back to earth from the international space station in June.
Sunita, who replaced the European Space Agency’s German astronaut Thomas Reiter on December 9, 2006, was informed Thursday that she would return to Earth with the STS-117 crew on space shuttle Atlantis, targeted for launch on June 8.
That shuttle mission will carry her successor, astronaut Clay Anderson, to the station to begin his duty as an Expedition 15 flight engineer.
The decision comes after the successful landing of Expedition 14 crew members Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria, Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, along with the spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi.
The exchange of Sunita and Anderson was originally planned for the STS-118 mission, which has been further pushed for the targeted launch in August.
However, that flight, first set to fly in June, had to be postponed after an unexpected hail storm damaged Atlantis’ external fuel tank and delayed STS-117.
NASA managers approved the crew rotation on Thursday morning after a more detailed review determined there would be no impact on space station operations or future shuttle mission objectives.
Since an earlier crew rotation was possible, NASA managers decided it would be prudent to bring back Sunita and deliver Anderson sooner rather than later.
The Polar Satetllite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is used to eventually launch polar satellites for India, making India less dependent on foreign rockets for launches. PSLV was developed to place 1000 kg class Indian remote sensing satellites into Polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO).
The PSLV has four stages using solid and liquid propulsion systems alternately. The first stage is one of the largest solid propellant boosters in the world and carries 138 metric tonnes of Hydroxyl Terminated Poly Butadiene (HTPB) propellant with a diameter of 2.8 m. The motor case is made of maraging steel. The booster develops a maximum thrust of about 4,430 kN. Six strap-on motors, four of which are ignited on the ground, augment the first stage thrust. Each of these solid propellant strap-on motors carries nine metric tonne of HTPB propellant and produces 677 kN thrust.
The second stage employs the Vikas engine and carries 40 metric tonne of liquid propellant — Unsymmetrical Di-Methyl Hydrazine (UDMH) as fuel and Nitrogen tetroxide (N2O4) as oxidizer. It generates a maximum thrust of 724 kN.
The third stage uses 7 metric tonne of HTPB-based solid propellant and produces a maximum thrust of 324 kN. Its motor case is made of Kevlar epoxy fiber. The fourth and the terminal stage of PSLV has a twin engine configuration using liquid propellant. With a propellant loading of 2 metric tonne (Mono-Methyl Hydrazine + Mixed Oxides of Nitrogen), each of these engines generates a maximum thrust of 7.4 kN.
The fairing of the PSLV is 3.2 m in diameter and is made of isogrid construction to protect the spacecraft during the atmospheric regime of the flight.
Links : WikiPedia , Official Site
India is examining the feasibility of launching a manned mission to the moon by 2020, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said on Thursday.
Such a mission could cost more than Rs 10,000 crore and a feasibility report was being prepared on the proposal, Nair said while interacting with children at a summer camp organized by the Balasahitya Institute.
ISRO’s unmanned Chandrayaan-I project, to be launched in 2008, will study the moon’s outer surface, he said.
Nair described President A P J Abdul Kalam as his “guru” with whom he worked for 20 years.
He said he considered the PSLV rocket as his “son” as it was the result of 10 years of hard work.
He said future generations in India would throng to IT and bio-technology sectors.
“Though IT is still a service sector in India, we can contribute a lot in the field of bio-technology,” he said.
Asked by children whether he hoped to become President, Nair said he had enough work on his hands now
This Image will give you the information about the space craft’s voyage
to Moon and the mission there .
Realated Post: Video:How will be chandrayaan
Hi all , This is my first video on India’s Chandrayaan Mission.
This video explains about the chandrayaan Mission objectives and techniques.
This video is officially released By ISRO and my visitors can watch it here:
