Chandrayaan countdown to start Monday
18 Oct 2008
Chennai: The countdown for India's prestigious lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, will start on Monday, a top ISRO official said. "The countdown will start on Monday early morning," Satish Dhawan Space Centre associate director MYS Prasad said.
The spacecraft, due for launch on 22 October, was moved to the launch pad on Friday evening, he said."Preparatory activities, including checking of various parameters in payloads, to start the countdown are going on," Prasad said.
He added that all operations are progressing satisfactorily. The spacecraft is due for launch on Wednesday at 0620 hrs.
"About 42 tonnes of propellant would be filled during the countdown period," Prasad said.
The Chandrayaan-1 will weigh about 1,380 kg at the time of launch and will carry 11 payloads. Shaped like a cuboid, with a solar panel projecting from one of its sides, the lunar orbiter will generate a maximum power of 700W.
A 36 ampere-hour (AH) lithium ion battery supplies power when the solar panel is not illuminated by the sun.
"To make Chandrayaan-1 escape from orbiting the earth and to travel towards the moon, its Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) is used," an official said, adding, "Liquid propellants needed for LAM as well as thrusters are stored onboard the spacecraft."
The craft's dual gimballed antenna will transmit scientific data gathered by its 11 payloads to earth, officials added.
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