Chandrayaan-1 problems linked to thermal miscalculation
Posted: Mon, Sep 7, 2009, 8:14 AM ET (1214 GMT)
Last month's failure of India's first lunar orbiter, Chandrayaan-1, may have been caused by excessive temperatures in the spacecraft linked to other problems with the orbiter. The head of the ISRO Satellite Centre said that spacecraft engineers had expected temperatures at the spacecraft's planned orbit of 100 kilometers to be about 75 degrees Celsius, but it turned out to be somewhat higher. This led to problems with the spacecraft, including failed star sensors, that eventually forced spacecraft controllers to move the spacecraft to a 200-kilometer orbit. Contact with Chandrayaan-1 was lost on August 29, and while initial reports blamed the failure on radiation damage to the spacecraft's electronics, it wasn't clear how much the unanticipated thermal exposure led to the failure.
Last month's failure of India's first lunar orbiter, Chandrayaan-1, may have been caused by excessive temperatures in the spacecraft linked to other problems with the orbiter. The head of the ISRO Satellite Centre said that spacecraft engineers had expected temperatures at the spacecraft's planned orbit of 100 kilometers to be about 75 degrees Celsius, but it turned out to be somewhat higher. This led to problems with the spacecraft, including failed star sensors, that eventually forced spacecraft controllers to move the spacecraft to a 200-kilometer orbit. Contact with Chandrayaan-1 was lost on August 29, and while initial reports blamed the failure on radiation damage to the spacecraft's electronics, it wasn't clear how much the unanticipated thermal exposure led to the failure.
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