India declares Chandrayaan-1 mission over
Posted: Mon, Aug 31, 2009, 8:50 PM ET (0050 GMT)
Officials with the Indian space agency ISRO declared the Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter mission over on Sunday, one day after the spacecraft lost contact with the Earth. While no formal statement was released by the space agency, ISRO officials said they had called off efforts to try and restore communications with the spacecraft, effectively ending the mission. Project engineers believe that radiation damaged power supply units that power the spacecraft's computer system, causing communications to fail. The spacecraft was about 10 months into a planned two-year mission orbiting the Moon, returning images and other data. ISRO leaders said they would press ahead with a second lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2, planned for 2012, as well as a Mars mission by 2015.
Officials with the Indian space agency ISRO declared the Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter mission over on Sunday, one day after the spacecraft lost contact with the Earth. While no formal statement was released by the space agency, ISRO officials said they had called off efforts to try and restore communications with the spacecraft, effectively ending the mission. Project engineers believe that radiation damaged power supply units that power the spacecraft's computer system, causing communications to fail. The spacecraft was about 10 months into a planned two-year mission orbiting the Moon, returning images and other data. ISRO leaders said they would press ahead with a second lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2, planned for 2012, as well as a Mars mission by 2015.
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