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O 020919Z SEP 09
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TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2459
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UNCLAS CHENNAI 000284 
 
STATE FOR OES/PCI, OES/STC, OES/SAT, OES/EGC, AND SCA/INS 
STATE FOR STAS 
STATE PASS TO NSF FOR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS 
STATE FOR SCA, OES (STAS FEDOROFF); OES/PDAS/RHARNISH; OES/PCI 
STEWART; OES/IHB MURPHY; OES/GTHOMPSON 
STATE FOR EEB/DAVID HENRY 
PASS TO MAS/DAS/JESTRADA 
PASS TO MAC/DAS/HVINEYARD 
PASS TO NSF/MLUECK 
PASS TO NASA/OER (MCINTOSH/WILLIAMS/KAMM) 
SLUG TO DOE/DAS/JMIZROCH; DOE/MGINZBERG 
SLUG TO DOE/ (TCUTLER/GBISCONTI/CGILLESPIE) 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TSPA PREL EIND SENV IN
 
SUBJECT:  INDIA'S FIRST LUNAR ORBITER MISSION SUFFERS PREMATURE 
FAILURE 
 
REF:  A) NEW DELHI 2641, B) CHENNAI 356 
 
¶1. (U) The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) experienced 
abrupt loss of radio contact with its Chandrayaan-1 (C-1) lunar 
orbiter at 0130 local on August 29.  ISRO Director Madhavan Nair 
told the press later that day that ISRO had terminated the mission. 
The spacecraft had completed 312 days in orbit since its launch on 
October 22, 2008 (reftels), and was expected to serve for two years. 
 Nair said that the mission had nonetheless completed 90 to 95 
percent of its scientific objectives, which mainly involved a 
detailed mapping of the moon.  He added that the craft had already 
sent some 70,000 images of the moon back to ISRO's command center 
near Bangalore and had collected data on the chemical and mineral 
content of the moon's soil.  ISRO officials did not announce an 
official cause of the orbiter's failure, but a spokesperson 
speculated that that the terminal failure was due to the loss of 
power supply to on-board computers that controlled the telemetry and 
telecommand communications with ground control, rendering the 
orbiter unable to communicate. 
 
¶2. (SBU) C-1 experienced a serious of glitches following its launch 
last year.  As early as a month into the launch, various electronic 
sub-systems apparently experienced greater-than-expected stress due 
to radiation.  This led to the failure of some equipment, requiring 
the craft to orbit the moon from a greater distance than previously 
planned.  ISRO's engineers (with some assistance from NASA and its 
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, we've heard from some non-ISRO sources) 
were able to create workarounds for these problems, however, until 
the fatal failure on August 29.  The launch and initial success of 
Chandrayaan-1 remains a source of pride for India, and its loss is a 
significant disappointment.  Planning for a Chandrayaan-2 mission, 
which will involve landing a rover on the moon, is already well 
under way and slated for a launch in 2012 or 2013.  ISRO will hope 
to use the lessons of C-1 to improve its capabilities for C-2. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) One slightly troubling aspect of the C-1 experience is that 
ISRO did not disclose publicly any problems until May 2009, nearly 
six months after the initial failures of some systems.  The 
organization's leaders, whose conversations with outsiders 
consistently stress its "indigenous" capabilities, tend to play down 
the amount of assistance the C-1 mission has received from other 
space agencies.  The reality is that the involvement of agencies 
like NASA was critical for the success of the mission, but there has 
been little if any public acknowledgement of the contributions of 
any agency other than ISRO.  One hopes that as ISRO becomes more 
confident of its own impressive (and very cost-effective) 
capabilities, it will be more willing to publicize its cooperation 
with other organizations. 
 
 
SIMKIN