Chandrayaan-I scientists meet today for technical review
07 Sep 2009
Bangalore: Indian and international scientists associated with the Chandrayaan-1 lunar mission are due to meet here on Monday for a technical review of the mission, particularly the performance of the various scientific payloads carried onboard the lunar orbiter.
The spacecraft carried 11 payloads of which five were designed and developed in India, three by the European Space Agency, two in the United States and one came from Bulgaria.
"If some of them have got some preliminary findings, we will try to make an assessment," chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), G Madhavan Nair said.
According to Bangalore-headquartered space agency, 95 per cent of the scientific objectives of Chandrayaan-I mission were completed.
This was the country's first deep space exploration mission.
Communication with the orbiting spacecraft was lost recently, just ahead of a second round of scientific observations due to commence in October, which would have ensured that the orbiter completed the remaining five per cent of its scientific objectives. The craft lost contact with ISRO's deep space tracking network at Byalalu, Bangalore, after its systems were affected because of heat-related problems.
The mission, with a designed life of two years, performed only for a period of ten months but has left scientists satisfied with the level of its performance meeting most of its scientific objectives in the period.
ISRO chief Nair said foreign participants in the mission players are satisfied with the results achieved. "They have got more than sufficient data with them. They are extremely happy," he said.
