Among the many accomplishments of Chandrayaan-I, its biggest discovery perhaps was to find hydroxyl and water molecules on the lunar surface

Chandrayaan-I may have had an early demise but in terms of achievements, it scored on many fronts. Enthusing about the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) unparalleled success in the Rajya Sabha on December 3, the Minister of State for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Prithviraj Chavan stated that the success of Chandrayaan-I has been mainly in terms of: “Building the spacecraft with multiple sensor system; launching the spacecraft with India’s own Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and precisely inserting the same into the lunar orbit in the first attempt itself; imaging up to 95 per cent of the lunar surface at high resolution; broad assessment of the mineralogical composition of certain parts of the lunar surface; finding hydroxyl and water molecules on the lunar surface; dropping the insignia of the Indian Tricolour on the lunar surface; and, establishing the Indian Deep Space Network and Indian Space Science Data Centre.”

No mean achievements indeed. But what really surprised the world space community was the unbelievable low cost of the Indian programme. “Most of the missions have been expensive, between $1 billion and $2 billion (Rs 4,660 crore and Rs 9,320 crore). India can be proud as Chandrayaan-I was around $100 million (Rs 465 crore) mission. We started the Indian mission by inviting queries, and the response was very good. We spent $85 million (Rs 395 crore), while $30 million (Rs 140 crore) was spent by the other partners. No country has done mission of this kind for less than $500 million (Rs 2,330 crore),” then ISRO Chief Madhavan Nair had told the media after the successful launch of the mission.

The unmanned Chandrayaan-I, the spacecraft launched by ISRO on October 22, 2008, from Satish Dhavan Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh was the first such scientific and space mission for India. The spacecraft was launched with PSLV-C-11, the indigenously developed launch vehicle. The proposal to send the Moon mission, prepared by ISRO, was approved by the Indian government in November 2003. It took ISRO less than five years to translate the dream into reality while staying within the approved budget of Rs 395 crore (approximately $85 million). On November 14, 2008, the Moon Impact Probe separated from the Chandrayaan orbiter at 2006 hours IST and 25 minutes later, at 2031 hours, struck the South Pole in a controlled crash, making India the fourth country to place its flag on the Moon.

Weighing 1,380 kg at launch and 675 kg in lunar orbit, Chandrayaan-I had as many as 11 remote sensing payloads (five ISRO and six from other space agencies, including NASA, ESA and the Bulgarian Aerospace Agency). The payloads were high-resolution remote sensing in the visible, near infrared and soft and hard X-ray frequencies. Over a two-year period, it was intended to survey the lunar surface to produce a complete map of its chemical characteristics and three-dimensional topography.