Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Chandrayaan: Desi hardware going to the effing moon!!

Yeah, its here and its official. After decades of launching INSAT communication satellites and the occasional Israeli spysat, ISRO has finally decided to pop the big one. In a few short hours, Chandrayaan (literally means 'vehicle to the moon') will lift off from Sriharikota. The Chandrayaan rides atop a specially outfitted PSLV with mixed solid/liquid fuel stages, delivering a final payload of 1.3 tonnes into lunar orbit. The project carries a mix of remote sensing gadgetry with significant contributions from the ESA, and has a projected lifetime of 2 years. This is the most significant effort by the ISRO ever. Chandrayaan will ride to the heavens on a towering pillar of flame. I cannot help thinking that this is a fitting tribute to the genius of Vikram Sarabhai and Satish Dhawan.

1 comment:

Karthik said...

yaay :)