Indian lunar orbiter affected by heat rise

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) – Scientists have shut down several ship’s instruments to stop the rise in temperature inside India’s first drone.

The spacecraft carrying the first Indian Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft is descending from Sriharikota.

Mylswamy Annadurai, lunar mission project director, told CNN that temperatures on the Chandrayaan-1 ship had climbed to 49 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit).

The increase happened as navigation, the moon – orbiting – and the sun lined up, a phenomenon Annadurai said was not unexpected and is likely to last until the end of December.

“We have turned off the systems (on board) that should not be turned on,” Annadurai said, dismissing the possibility of damage, adding that the temperature is now lower to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

The heating on the Chandrayaan-1 should not exceed 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), Annadurai said – but insists the orbiter is designed to withstand up to 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit).

Chandrayaan-1 – Chandrayaan means “ship” in Sanskrit – was successfully launched from southern India on 22 October. See the launch of India’s first lunar mission »

Its two-year mission is to capture high-resolution three-dimensional images of the Moon’s surface, especially permanently shaded polar regions. They will also look for evidence of water or ice and try to determine the chemical composition of certain lunar rocks, the group said.

Earlier this month, the lunar impact probe detached from Chandrayaan-1 and successfully crashed into the lunar surface.

Officials say a TV-sized probe adorned with a picture of the Indian flag hit the surface of the moon at 5,760 kilometers per hour (3,579 mph).

He transferred the data to Chandrayaan-1 before the strike, but was not scheduled to take over afterwards.

Chandrayaan-1 transports cargo from the United States, the European Union and Bulgaria. India plans to share mission data with other programs, including NASA.

All about India • NASA