Chandrayaan-1 successfully launched – next stop: the Moon


Chandrayaan-1 mission profile
 
Chandrayaan-1 mission profile

Artist's impression of Chandrayaan-1
 
This artist's concept shows the Indian lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-1. The spacecraft will carry two European experiments on board which are direct descendents of ESA's SMART-1 - the infrared spectrometer, SIR2, and the X-ray spectrometer, C1XS, to study the mineralogy and the chemical composition of the lunar surface. The third European instrument on board is the SARA Sub-kiloelectronvolt Atom Reflecting Analyser, that will study the interaction between the lunar surface and the solar wind.

Note for editors
 

 
Chandrayaan-1 x-ray spectrometer C1XS



Release date: 26 January 2009