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Chandrayan-1 sets stage for
India’s ‘moonwalk’
WSN Bureau
 SRIHARIKOTA:
It has
been a long journey from carrying a hand-held rocket on a cycle to
the launch station here at Sriharikota, to blasting an unmanned
satellite to the moon. On Wednesday
India's space
ambition literally skyrocketed when it successfully launched
Chandrayaan-1 from the Satish Dhavan Space Centre, named after the
legendary scientist from Punjab. As the whole nation watched the
rocket go up on television channels, the patriotic fervour for the
time being appeared to have distracted the country from an economic
slowdown, collapsing stock prices and outbreaks of ethnic and
religious violence.
The achievement
appears remarkably considering that hundreds of millions of people
still live in poverty in the country, but the nation has done well
to develop an indigenous space programme. And the journey has been
somewhat similar to its nuclear ambition as it had to face
international isolation on certain fronts, which only helped it
build its own resources. The operation is ostensibly about mapping
the moon, but the mission comes on the heels of China's first space
walk last month, when Chinese astronauts were feted as national
heroes. India does not want to fall behind in an Asian race to space
that could have technological and military implications.
There is
disquiet in the West that China has military ambitions in space,
with developments like anti-satellite missiles. India's national
television channels broadcast the countdown to the launch live. Some
scientists thumped their chests, hugged each other and clapped as
the rocket shot up into space. The spacecraft will reach the lunar
orbit and spend two years scanning the moon for any evidence of
water and precious metals. A gadget called the Moon Impactor Probe
will detach and land on the moon to kick up some dust, while
instruments in the craft analyze the particles, ISRO says. A
principal objective is to look for Helium 3, an isotope which is
very rare on earth but is sought to power nuclear fusion and could
be a valuable source of energy in the future, some scientists
believe.
It is thought to
be more plentiful on the moon, but still rare and very difficult to
extract.
India's
project cost $79 million, considerably less than the Chinese and
Japanese probes in 2007 and ISRO says the moon mission will pave the
way for India to claim a bigger chunk of the global space business.
ISRO scientists visited temples to seek the blessings of gods before
the launch, and afterwards some expressed relief that rain had held
off until the rocket was in space.
"The rain gods
have been kind to us," Mr. Madhavan said. In April, India sent 10
satellites into orbit from a single rocket, and ISRO says it is
plans more launches before a proposed manned mission to space and
then onto Mars in four years time. ISRO is collaborating with a
number of countries, including Israel on a project to carry an
ultra-violet telescope in an Indian satellite within a year. It is
also building a tropical weather satellite with France,
collaborating with Japan to improve disaster management from space,
and developing a heavy lift satellite launcher, which it hopes to
use to launch heavier satellites by 2010.
India has
launched 10 remote sensing satellites since 1998, has several
broadcast satellites in space to control 170 transponders and has
also launched light-weight satellites for Belgium, Germany, Korea,
Japan and France.
22 October 2008
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