(From June 18, 2008) India’s hopes to launch its first lunar orbiter this month were dashed by late experiment arrivals. The Chandrayaan-1 mission has now been delayed to September 19, 2008, to give engineers the time they need to integrate the experiment payloads and perform the necessary system tests prior to launch.
Chandrayaan-1 was originally scheduled to launch on April 9, and was already delayed into July to allow for the integration of experiment payloads. The most recent postponement was triggered by the late arrivals of international payloads that will ride the orbiter to the moon. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) did not specify which country’s payloads had caused the delay - Chandrayaan-1 will be carrying payloads from the Bulgaria, Poland, Norway, the ESA, and NASA.
The ISRO said that the delay will allow them more time to test the performance of India’s new deep space network antenna. Located forty kilometers from Bangalore, the 32-meter dish is currently tracking JAXA’s lunar-orbiting Kaguya (with Japanese permission). India hopes to follow up Chandrayaan-1 with a version 2 in 2010 or 2011. The second Indian lunar mission is slated to carry a roving lander to the moon’s surface.
(From June 18, 2008) India’s hopes to launch its first lunar orbiter this month were dashed by late experiment arrivals. The Chandrayaan-1 mission has now been delayed to September 19, 2008, to give engineers the time they need to integrate the experiment payloads and perform the necessary system tests prior to launch.
