Have sent a mail to ISRO asking for these details yesterday.
Hope to receive a positive reply.

There's an update on the ISRO website stating they just raised the orbit to 37,900 km, which doesn't match your numbers, Bhas. Could you post links to where you're getting your information?

--Emily

Emily,

http://in.rediff.com/news/2008/oct/23imoon2.htm

- Bhas

There was a news item in Indian papers :

( Emily, ISRO website always gives a delayed reporting )

The LAM would be fired again on Friday (October 24) morning ( India time ) to take the spacecraft to an apogee of 73,000 km and a perigee of 300 km.

Hopefully they have done it by now.

Really speaking till this time it was in fact a more or less a routine launch of PSLV.
( PSLV has earlier launched satellites along equator apart from its intended application of Polar launches. Putting Chandrayaan in 305kms x 37900 kms is similar to a GTO transfer orbit. Such a maneuver was done earlier also using a PSLV )




----------
- SSSalvi

486 Crore rupees, is it ca $97 million?
If only NASA and ESA could do so much with such a small budgets - what kind of planetary missions would we have right now...
(warning: unconstructive dreaming mode turned on)

http://www.isro.org/pressrelease/Oct25_2008a.htm

Chandrayaan's orbit raised further.

http://www.isro.org/pressrelease/Oct26_2008.htm - Chandrayaan-1 enters deep space.

Will the next burn take it to the moon? Or will there be another before that final lunar injection burn?

According to the last publication:




There will be at least one more.

http://www.isro.org/pressrelease/Oct29_2008.htm - closer to the Moon.

The Terrain Mapping camera (TMC) on board Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was successfully operated on October 29, 2008
Link: http://isro.org/pressrelease/Oct31_2008.htm - Chandrayaan-1 Camera Tested

The Photos of Earth Taken by TMC
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment

These were taken from 9,000KM and 70,000KM.
Since Lunar orbit is going to be 100KM, We should get very good pictures...
Have to wait 2 More weeks though.

It seems Next (and last?) orbit raising maneuver is scheduled for Nov, 3rd.

Ah very nice pictures!

OK, before I post about this one, I need a reality check. Remember how when Rosetta flew by Earth and returned a lovely Earth photo, it was published reversed (flipped right for left) -- see discussion here? Well, if I am not mistaken, the whole-Earth image from Chandrayaan-1 is also flipped right for left. Compare the cloud patterns over Australia to this photo, taken about an hour earlier, by MTSAT-1R, the geostationary satellite operated by Japan:

Click to view attachment

It looks like the other image is oriented correctly.

Am I right about that?

--Emily

Well, I'll say this: ONE of them sure appears to be the wrong way around!

Seriously, mistaking left - right, or even worse, which way the illumination *ought* to come from is hilarious.

Where did you find that image o_O? Where can I get other pictures from that satellite?

Here's a jumping-off point for images of Earth from geostationary satellites:
http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/ou...stationary.html

--Emily

Also check out this thread: http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=4005

Is it scheduled to raise orbit tomorrow (today, on the other side of the Atlantic)?

Update

"The liquid apogee motor (LAM) on board will be fired around 5.00 am on Tuesday (IST) for about five minutes to make the transition and position the spacecraft at about 500 km from the moon's surface and over 384,000 km away from the earth," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) director S. Satish said.

"Additional velocity will be given to the spacecraft to enter the lunar orbit Saturday (November 8) for a rendezvous with the moon. With calibrated firing of its LAMs, it will be inserted into its designated orbit, which will be about 100 km from the lunar surface," Satish said.

Will you please provide us with links when you quote?

Google'd it, found it.
There are actual several sources, one of them:
http://www.newkerala.com/topstory-fullnews-39680.html

Chandrayaan-1 enters Lunar Transfer Trajectory

The fifth and final orbit raising manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was successfully carried out today (November 4, 2008) morning at 04:56 am IST.
During this manoeuvre, the spacecraft’s 440 Newton liquid engine was fired for about two and a half minutes. With this, Chandrayaan-1 entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory with an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of about 380,000 km (three lakh eighty thousand km).

Link: http://isro.org/pressrelease/Nov04_2008.htm

Informative interview about Indian Deep Space Network that is being used to track Chandrayaan-I

Link : http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/stories/20...21252302000.htm

Bhas
The creation of the deep space network and the launch of Chandrayaan-1 is all extremely impressive. Good luck on moon orbital insertion. I'll then be looking forward to exciting science data.
-Floyd

Full inline quote removed - Admin

Thanks Floyd.
Good to see JAXA (Selene) and ESA (Rosetta) letting IDSN to track their satellite/probe.

The link below has some details of the terrain mapping camera
onboard chandrayaan-1.

http://www.hindu.com/seta/2008/11/06/stori...10650031400.htm

http://www.business-standard.com/india/sto...mp;autono=49185

In one of the most crucial manoeuvres since the launch of India's maiden moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, ISRO scientists are slated to inject the spacecraft into the lunar orbit today.


"The lunar orbit insertion (LOI) will start around 5 p.M. and last around 800 seconds," ISRO spokesperson S Satish told PTI here.

Once the operation is completed, it will be in a 7,500 km X 500 km elliptical orbit around the moon.

"It (Chandrayaan-1) will enter the moon's orbit. It will be captured by lunar gravity," Satish said.

Chandrayaan-1 was launched from the spaceport of Sriharikota on October 22

looks like a Success

jb

I noticed this one:



And I'm asking: where are the pictures of the Moon?

from universe today blog


not sure where he got his info though.
jb

I do hope ISRO won't follow the course of China with almost no information.

Now in orbit... and this is the story about the pictures:

http://www.hindu.com/2008/11/06/stories/2008110651691300.htm

India is very different from China in that (among countless other differences) it has a vibrant free press. Much more news can be expected, but maybe not the 'picture of the day' we would like.

Phil

That's probably true, but anyway, I feel very frustrated. We have thousands of publications that TMC has started imaging the Moon, but none of the pictures are piblished.

ISRO generally takes a few days to make public the images from any S/C. Even for their IRS series which images Earth it takes about 3 to 4 days.

Lunar orbit achieved, congratulations ISRO!

I'm looking forward to the pictures...

India’s Moon mission a big success

Has a pciture "A TV grab of the Moon sent by Chandrayaan-1 on November 4."
http://www.hindu.com/2008/11/09/stories/2008110960640100.htm

and other links
http://www.hindu.com/2008/11/09/stories/2008110955710800.htm
http://www.hindu.com/2008/11/09/stories/2008110959790800.htm
http://www.hindu.com/2008/11/09/stories/2008110959740800.htm

Above links has info like ....

"Asked why the operation happened about half an hour earlier than the originally expected time of 17:30 hrs, Mr. Annadurai said the actual solar radiation pressure on the satellite — something which is only an estimate based on modelling — required that the torque to be applied on the satellite using the on-board momentum wheels to achieve the correct orientation was less than anticipated. Since the correct orientation could be achieved a little before 17:00 hrs itself and the position of the spacecraft was also correctly above the north-pole, the firing was carried out earlier, he said."

What a beauty!



Image taken from here: http://raakshaseeyam.blogspot.com/2008/11/...s-pictures.html

Lol if you say so =P.
It reminds me of one of those 1960's Luna spacecraft images. But then again, the image was taken ~300,000 km away. I'm sure we'll get better images as the mission goes on.

Yes... and also, this was probably a cellphone photo of a TV screen, not the original data!

Phil

Chandrayaan orbital: height reduced

..... the periselene was reduced to 200 km on Sunday. The aposelene continues at 7,500 km.....

Link: http://www.hindu.com/2008/11/10/stories/2008111058230100.htm

First orbital reduction of chandrayaan-1 achieved.


http://isro.org/pressrelease/Nov10_2008.htm

This is the first of the five orbit reductions before chandrayaan-1
settles into 100 * 100 km final orbit. Considering that the MIP
is planned to be released on nov-15 that means we can expect
one orbit reduction everyday till nov-14.

On a side note November-14 is celebrated in India as children's day.

I am curious on how to reduce the Chandrayaan's aposelene and periselene height.

I am thinking that in order to reduce:

• The aposelene's height: Reduce speed of Chandrayaan when it approaches to periselene.
• The periselene's height: Reduce speed of Chandrayaan when it approaches to apolesene

Are the above suppositions corrects?

That's the simplest way to do it, yes.

And most energy-efficient.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/11/11/stories/2008111161161000.htm

Getting closer to the final orbit and ejection of MIP. A diagram I have seen suggests that the MIP camera faces downwards rather than slightly forwards, so it would not image its exact impact point. In that respect it would be like Ranger 8 rather than Rangers 7 and 9.

Phil

Chandrayaan 1 - new images website up:

http://www.isro.org/pslv-c11/photos/moon_images.htm

This will be the site to check for future goodies.

Phil

Chandrayaan-1 gets further closer to moon

Bangalore (PTI): Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft on Tuesday moved closer to the Moon with ISRO scientists carrying out orbit reduction manoeuvre at 18:30 hours for a duration of 31 seconds.

"The current orbit of Chandrayaan-1 is 255.3 km (the farthest distance from the moon) X 101.3 km (nearest distance to the moon). The orbital period is 2.09 hours", ISRO spokesperson S Satish told PTI.

Further manoeuvres are planned in the coming days to bring the spacecraft to its final circular orbit of 100 kms above the moon's surface, Satish said.