Chandrayaan mission throwing up challenges’

Thiruvananthapuram: As the Chandrayaan I satellite treads a circular path around the moon, the latter is throwing up challenges to ISRO scientists as they strive for a successful completion of the two-year mission.

ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair said here on Sunday that owing to the volatile nature of the moon, temperature inside the satellite had gone up by ten degrees. This could hamper sensitive instruments inside the satellite.

``We’re trying to artificially cool it now,’’ he said delivering the Regent Maharani Setu Lakshmi Bayi Memorial Lecture marking her 113th birth anniversary. ``It’s a risky mission,’’ he said, speaking on the theme `India’s Recent Space Achievements.’ If things go as planned, ISRO will be able to create the first lunar atlas with a picture resolution of below ten metres, he said. The ISRO expects to take one-and-a-half years to complete the mapping with the Terrain Mapping Camera on board the satellite.
Read more:

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Chandrayaan+mission+throwing+up+challenges%E2%80%99&artid=hKgJwGHri8M=&SectionID=lMx/b5mt1kU=&MainSectionID=lMx/b5mt1kU=&SEO=Chandrayaan,+satellite,+ISRO,+scientists,+moon,+mi&SectionName=tm2kh5uDhixGlQvAG42A/07OVZOOEmts