Monday, October 20, 2008

MPS Spectrometer to travel on Chandrayaan

Eight nations are contributing experiments to India's Chandrayaan Lunar Orbiter, including the United States, Russia (LEND, also to fly on LRO) and Germany. PhysOrg spotlights a vital remote sensing spectrometer, SIR-1, shown above as integrated into Chandrayaan in Bangalore, last month.

India’s first mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-1, is scheduled to take off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on the south-eastern coast of India, Tuesday, October 21, at 20.50 USET. The German science and technology contribution to the mission comprises an infrared spectrometer designed and built by the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Katlenburg-Lindau. The spectrometer will play a fundamental role in the production of the first high-resolution global mineralogical map of the Moon.
Read more HERE.