Posts from — October 2008

India’s first lunar probe, named Chandrayaan-1, is all set to launch from Sriharikota on the Bay of Bengal on Wednesday, October 22. The $83 million mission is expected to orbit the moon for two years and carries 11 instruments on board, including two from the United States.

Weather permitting, the countdown will begin on October 18, (T-5). The launch vehicle is also of Indian design, and orbits the earth in polar orbit. The same vehicle design has been used before to launch Indian and other satellites.

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If the weather cooperates, India will launch its first probe to the moon on Wednesday, October 22nd. The $83 million mission will carry two NASA instruments, including a Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3).  M3 was built by Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Lab.

Yesterday, President George W Bush signed the landmark “123 Agreement” enabling the United States and India to collaborate in civilian nuclear energy.  Three years in the making, this deal reverses a 34 year old ban imposed on India after its first nuclear test in the Rajasthan desert in May 1974.

See photos and video here