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India Goes Over the Moon
With it's first spacecraft ready to reach for the moon, India is set to cross the final space frontier
A Y2K visit to the moon is strongly indicated in India's lunar chart. Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) are set to go where no Indian has gone before. Yes, ISRO has undertaken a study to examine the feasibility of sending the first Indian spacecraft to the moon. S. Krishnamurthy, a senior ISRO official, told Delhi times: "The new millennium ins expected to provide exciting opportunities for expanding the horizons of knowledge through explorations beyound the earth. India, as a space superpower, should not miss out on this excitement."
The countdown has begun and is already some good news in the orbit. Preliminary analysis by ISRO shows that India,s polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) is capable of sending a spacecraft
To moon. "By modifying its upper stage into a transluner injection stage, it can send a 530 kg spacecraft for a 'fly-by' mission. Similarly India's GSLV can send a spacecraft weighting 850 kg to
960 kg for a 'fly-by' mission to the moon," elaborates Krishnamurthi. For the ininitiated, a fly-by mission, unlike an ordit, needs a spacecraft go around the moon and come back to the earth in 10 days.
By the look of things, even an unmanned mission to the moon can provide an impetus to scientific research in the country. "Investigation by Indian scientists using lunear soil samples provided by the USA, as well as data from planetary mission to Venus and Mars. Offer an insight into possible manned foraya in the near future, "saya a senior ISRO official.
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