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India's $80M USD moon probe launched it into the lunar race and has been deemed a modest success, reaching orbit correctly. However, since it has had some setbacks, including the latest problem of serious overheating.  (Source: Doordarshah National)
India says that its not surprised that its lunar orbiter began to overheat

When India launched its first moon mission with the Chandrayaan-1 lunar probe, which launched October 22, the nation was swept with much excitement.  Millions waited in anticipation as the probe's lander detached from the main probe.  The lander would hurtle towards the lunar surface carrying proudly the Indian flag and slamming into the lunar surface so hard that all its instruments aboard were pulverized.  Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) officials insisted that this crash was intentional to collect descent data on what not to do in the future.

Now the ISRO has something else to worry about with their ambitious lunar mission.  The Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft has begun to overheat, with its temperature soaring to 49 degrees C (120 degrees Fahrenheit).  Mylswamy Annadurai, the project director for the lunar mission, said that the ISRO has been forced to switch off several instrument systems due to the failure.

The spacecraft began to overheat when it aligned with the sun and received radiative heating.  This effect is expected to continue strongly through December due to the moon's orbit.  Annadurai says that the ISRO expected this development, but simply did not develop measures to prevent it, other than procedures to shut off systems.

He states, "We have switched off the systems (aboard) that are not needed to be on."

The temperature has since sank to 40 degrees C (104 degrees Fahrenheit), he says.  While the orbiter is officially designed to only be stable for temperatures of 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) or less, Annadurai believes it could survive much hotter temperatures -- 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit).

Chadrayaan is India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft.  It takes its name from the Sanskrit word for "moon craft" -- "chandrayaan".  The orbiter's mission will last 2 years, during which it will take high-resolution, three-dimensional images of the moon's surface.  These images should help to reveal water or ice if it exists, as well as to analyze the composition of lunar rocks.

The orbiter has technology aboard from the United States, the European Union and Bulgaria.  The ISRO has said it will graciously share the information it collects with foreign space agencies, such as NASA -- if it can get its overheating issues under control, that is.

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Whoops....
By munky on 11/26/2008 9:36:23 AM , Rating: 3
Should have went with liquid cooling!




RE: Whoops....
By marvdmartian on 11/26/2008 10:41:51 AM , Rating: 3
Or, at the very least, they could've gone with aftermarket cooling, instead of the OEM heatsink & fan! ;)

It's funny, though....one of those things my brain has a problem wrapping itself around. Space is so cold, but exposure to sunlight in space can overheat spacecraft/equipment. Just weird....

Oh, and can anyone tell me why their instruments would be so susceptible to heat? Shoot, a cpu can handle 60 to 70 degrees C without a meltdown (though I wouldn't recommend it!), what would they have that's susceptible to heat that's not much worse than what you could see in Las Vegas in July??


RE: Whoops....
By Motoman on 11/26/2008 11:52:06 AM , Rating: 2
That's what I was thinking...it's so mind-bendingly cold in space (where no one can hear you scream) that I can't even imagine anything generating even appreciable heat...let alone summertime heat...nor could I figure out why such an unremarkable amount of heat (from an Earth point of view) could cause such problems.


RE: Whoops....
By bobsmith1492 on 11/26/2008 12:18:50 PM , Rating: 5
<physicsLesson>

There are 3 ways to transfer heat: conduction, convection, and radiation.

Conduction and convection require material to transfer the heat.

There is no material in the VACUUM of space to transfer heat to.

Therefore the only way to dissipate heat is by radiation.

The sun is canceling out the heat dissipation via radiation on one side of the probe - adding heat to the probe rather than allowing it to radiate away.

So, if the heat added via radiation from the sun on one side of the probe plus the internally generated heat is greater the amount of heat radiated away on the other side of the probe, the probe will heat up (increasing the amount radiated away until the temperature stabilizes).

</physics lesson>


RE: Whoops....
By Motoman on 11/26/08, Rating: 0
RE: Whoops....
By MatthiasF on 11/26/2008 1:19:27 PM , Rating: 5
The spacecraft's cooling systems are built with a tolerance in mind. So, let's say they expected a temperature range of 30-40C, but they're clocking in closer to 50C.

The real reason for the problem is not highlighted in the article above.

The spacecraft started having the problem when it passed between the moon and sun, thus receiving more radiation than expected (from the sun's rays bouncing off the moon).

I suppose both issues, the lander crashing and this cooling issue, are caused by engineers not thinking things through or not being given enough time/money to work out all the scenarios.


RE: Whoops....
By Ammohunt on 11/26/2008 4:11:25 PM , Rating: 2
Right as the article states they are learning what not to do with space probes.


RE: Whoops....
By Suntan on 11/26/2008 1:21:14 PM , Rating: 2
Its not dark in space when the sun is beating on you. Stand in a dark room, then have a buddy shine a spot light right in your face from 5 feet away, does it still seem dark in the room?

-Suntan


RE: Whoops....
By Motoman on 11/26/2008 1:25:59 PM , Rating: 3
True, true...I stand with my nit picked. Was blithely using a common phrase without thinking about it. Even interstellar space isn't "dark" per se, really...light is coming at you from all directions. And I would have to guess, that if you were floating through interstellar space long enough, you could probably even convince yourself you could see quantum foam. And entertain yourself by holding your spacesuit-clad hands *really* close together to see if you can generate any zero-point energy.


RE: Whoops....
By frankenso on 11/26/2008 1:51:46 PM , Rating: 5
Indeed the omnidirectional radiation background in space is only several K (CMB), but the equilibrium temperature of the spacecraft is mostly dependent on the albedo of the craft surface. Albedo decides both how much radiation hitting upon the spacecraft is absorbed and how efficiently the spacecraft can irradiate away the heat. The only effect that the cold background radiation comes into play is the major source of heating comes in form not of omnidirectional radiation, but as several unidirectional source (i.e. the sun and the moon).

Thus in a simple thermal equilibrium calculation, instead of using the total area of the craft surface to calculate the incoming energy flux, you just use the area when you observe the satellite from sun - which is smaller, not not by orders of magnitude. The outgoing flux part, though, is always calculated with the total craft surface.

As for the sensitivity to heat, one component I know that won't operate at high temperature is the CCD sensor. Unlike the CCD in your camera, scientific CCD normally operate on water or even liquid gas cooling due to the sensitivity and operaing wavelength needed. Noise signal from a CCD sensor grows as higher temperature causes charge to accumulate on the pixels even without light (thermal excitation causing dark current). I'm not sure if this is one of the troubles with temperature onboard though.


RE: Whoops....
By PlasmaBomb on 11/26/2008 2:36:03 PM , Rating: 4
quote:
...not to pick nits, but we all know that space isn't exactly a vacuum...


Whilst space isn't empty it is a damb good vacuum.

At atmospheric pressure there are ~2.5 x 10^19 molecules per cm^3

Ultra high vacuums on earth are rated at <100 nanopascals

Working that out leaves ~2.5 x 10^5 molecules per cm^3

Spaceweather.com puts the density of the solar wind at 0.8 protons per cm^3, which is several orders of magnitude lower. So I would say the term vacuum works quite well...


RE: Whoops....
By Screwballl on 11/26/2008 4:26:56 PM , Rating: 2
they should have gotten Gigabyte on board and had them create a heat pipe system using the crafts metal exterior as a heatsink so the heat is transferred to the outside casing instead of circulating inside letting everything else heat up...

/tongue in cheek/


RE: Whoops....
By Reclaimer77 on 11/27/2008 11:27:02 AM , Rating: 2
Dude unless they are complete morons, I doubt the electronics in this thing are exposed to vacuum and said cold space. Its obviously sealed from vacuum and extreme temps. They just didn't provide it enough airflow or venting to cool.

I agree the temps certainly don't seem THAT extreme for todays standards. But its India, who knows what crap they threw in it.


RE: Whoops....
By LeftSide on 11/26/2008 4:47:08 PM , Rating: 2
Most High sensitive CCDs must be cool so that they don't introduce noise into the image. Since the main objective of the Probe is to take High Resolution Images, grainy images would render much of its time in space useless.


RE: Whoops....
By SSJGohanMlm on 11/30/2008 10:57:20 PM , Rating: 1
THEY'RE INDIANS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, what do you expect. They probably used curry sauce for cooling and remember that crash? They had a curry party shortly after, thats why it crashed

They put expensive sh!t on it just to blow it up. If you wanted something cool put fireworks or something.

Indian officials insisting that the lunar crash was intentional to collect decent data? Slap on an accelerometer and a transmitter inside a cube and send it to the moon if you want decent info.


In all fairness to India
By Regs on 11/26/2008 9:38:34 AM , Rating: 5
At least they're doing it on their own without stealing plans with espionage or hacking other nations computers.




RE: In all fairness to India
By Poloasis on 11/26/2008 9:54:16 AM , Rating: 5
Did someone say China?


RE: In all fairness to India
By nah on 11/26/2008 10:09:33 AM , Rating: 2
I think its last president studied in the US--Dr Kalam--from where he got insights into rocketry and ballistics--he's known as the Father of India's missile program


RE: In all fairness to India
By subhajit on 11/26/2008 2:44:12 PM , Rating: 2
Dr. Vikram Sarabhai is the one who started the Indian space program
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikram_Sarabhai


RE: In all fairness to India
By keerthi on 11/26/2008 4:46:55 PM , Rating: 2
As if you were next to Our President..

May be Its time You Read more about him

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Kalam

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wings_of_Fire

May be Read that book you might know of the time line of development.. the time of vist of Dr. kalam was far earlier than the time line of Development of these technologies... No Country at that time even had that Tech...


..
By StevoLincolnite on 11/26/08, Rating: 0
RE: ..
By JonB on 11/26/2008 10:19:50 AM , Rating: 2
Nothing says "heat" like the Red Ring of Death!


RE: ..
By sweetsauce on 11/26/2008 10:22:37 AM , Rating: 5
No!!! RROD is a microsoft problem, which makes it good ol' Mick's wet dream. Any chance he gets to make some kind of negative reference to MS he takes.


RE: ..
By Motoman on 11/26/2008 12:48:21 PM , Rating: 4
...don't you guys bash Mick for being anti-Apple too? Shurely he can't be anti-everything...then he'd be Lewis Black.


RE: ..
By foolsgambit11 on 11/26/2008 5:01:06 PM , Rating: 2
If you rearrange the letters in Jason Mick you get....

Oh, nevermind.


European Union and Bulgaria
By PrinceGaz on 11/26/2008 7:21:44 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
The orbiter has technology aboard from the United States, the European Union and Bulgaria.


Bulgaria has been part of the EU since last year.




RE: European Union and Bulgaria
By metalqga on 11/27/2008 1:58:40 PM , Rating: 2
Yes, I have some mixed feelings about this sentence, on one hand my country is mentioned together with the USA and EU, on the other hand one might think Bulgaria is as far from the EU, as from the US...


RE: European Union and Bulgaria
By Cubexco on 11/29/2008 3:20:34 AM , Rating: 2
The Radiation Dose Monitor Experiment (RADOM) onboard the Chandrayaan, comes from Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

Amongst the other instruments on board, most are developed by ISRO. Others by various Institutes/Agencies, with the American ones coordinated by NASA and European ones coordinated by ESA (NOT EU)

The Bulgarian one was not coordinated by ESA, but was a direct collaboration between the Bulgarian Academy and ISRO.

The mention of "European Union" is simply one more bit of misinformation being blogged by the Royal Ignoramus, aka Jason Mick.


By subhajit on 11/26/2008 2:27:52 PM , Rating: 5
It has started since the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) was released from Chandrayaan, but I wonder from where did Mr. Jason Mick find that the 'impact' of the 'Moon Impact Probe' (notice the word 'Impact') with Moons surface might not have been intentional (with all his rather sarcastic remarks). I will give you some links where you will find some real information.
Here is something from BBC News a few days before the MIP was released from the space craft:
quote:
The Indian experiments include a 30kg probe that will be released from the mothership to slam into the lunar surface. The Moon Impact Probe (MIP) will record video footage on the way down and measure the composition of the Moon's tenuous atmosphere.

link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7679818....
Now let us come back to today's news. This is a quote from the article:
quote:
Annadurai says that the ISRO expected this development, but simply did not develop measures to prevent it, other than procedures to shut off systems.


Now here's what he really told:
quote:

"Although we did factor in the thermal conditions in the lunar orbit, the temperature is a bit higher than we anticipated."

link:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7748611.stm

So again Mr. Mick made clever use of his (rather enjoyable) sense of humor to mix actual information with his own remarks and put it across as news. It would have been fine if it was a blog post but when he posts this as a news article it actually raises some questions about his reporting ethics.

So here's what was really done to reduce the heating problem (from the same BBC article):
quote:

"We have rotated the spacecraft by 20 degrees and this has helped to reduce the temperature of the craft. We have also switched off certain equipment like mission computers and this has resulted in the reduction of temperature to 40C now. At this temperature all the equipment can perform very well," Mr Annadurai said.


Anyway, I think this article (and the other one by Mr. Mick) is a good read for any good US citizen suffering from post 9/11 patriotism. But just FYI we (Indians) are not really competing with you (The greatest nation on earth), so there is no need to work so hard for downplaying and maligning whatever little we have done.




By frobizzle on 11/26/2008 10:16:44 AM , Rating: 3
quote:
The lander would hurtle towards the lunar surface carrying proudly the Indian flag and slamming into the lunar surface so hard that all its instruments aboard were pulverized. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) officials insisted that this crash was intentional to collect descent data on what not to do in the future.

So, if that was the case, why load it up with millions in equipment? <SNICKER>




By Myg on 11/26/2008 12:30:57 PM , Rating: 1
They can probably get away with calling it "intentional" because I assume it was malfunctioning and they had two choices: lose it in space/crash into the moon.

The latter was less embarassing...


Great
By kontorotsui on 11/27/2008 5:10:28 AM , Rating: 2
Don't tell me this time they confused Fahrenheit with Celsius degrees.




Silly Article
By vamsy on 11/27/2008 9:48:17 AM , Rating: 2
This is pretty much a silly article. (Though I admit I felt it was humorous) but it shouldn't have distort facts to such an extent.

This article just tells the guys here what they want to see and it is successful in this case.




/me
By unplug on 11/28/2008 12:43:49 PM , Rating: 2
...points at Bulgaria.




By Chipper Smoltz DT on 12/1/2008 10:14:27 PM , Rating: 2
There was an article sometime ago wherein there was an invention about a certain protective shielding that could be used against the radioactive rays of the sun. I believe that its primary purpose was for the future manned missions to Mars.

Anyways, if there's a problem with the shielding then this will be corrected as well either by that or by something else that the Indians have overlooked in their design.

Anyways, we learn from our mistakes but it seems that this one has been expected. What I worry is that, it seems that India has come a long way already. It would be nice if everything can somehow be a collaboration like the European Space Agency. Something like an Asian Space Agency which would include China, Japan and perhaps Korea.




Curry
By trabpukcip on 11/26/2008 9:54:28 AM , Rating: 1
Must of packed in one too many lamb vindaloo's...




Maybe
By gmyx on 11/26/2008 10:08:36 AM , Rating: 1
They must of put too much curry.




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