India's Moon mission scheduled for 19th September 2008

India’s maiden Moon mission Chandrayaan-I has reached a major milestone as scientists completed the integration of all instruments onto the spacecraft and are aiming to launch it by September 19. Space scientists at ISRO last week completed the integration of the 11 instruments — six indigenous and five under international cooperation — onto the spacecraft which is no bigger than a typical office cubicle.Detailed integrated tests to ensure all systems work as per the expectations are expected to last another four weeks after which the spacecraft’s ability to handle the extreme thermal and vacuum environment of lunar orbit will be gauged. These assessments will be followed by vibration and acoustic tests.
The spacecraft needs to be shifted to the launchpad at least four weeks prior to the launch date to allow scientists and engineers to carry out necessary checks on the launch vehicle. Chandrayaan-I will be launched atop a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), India’s workhorse rocket with a streak of nine consecutive flawless missions. However, the launch may happen on September 19, provided all the tests are carried out without any hitch. If any problem arises, it needs to be solved before proceeding to the next state. ISRO has packed Chandrayaan with six instruments including a high-resolution stereo camera capable of imaging objects about 16 feet in diameter. The spacecraft will also carry near-infrared and X-Ray spectrometers and a laser altimeter to determine the altitude of the lunar craft for spatial coverage of various instruments. These payloads will help researchers ascertain the composition and topography of the lunar surface. Indian engineers have also built a 64-pound impactor that will be dropped from the orbiting spacecraft for a suicidal nosedive into the Moon. The probe will relay video imagery, altitude information and spectral data back to Earth through the Chandrayaan mothership, which will be in a lunar orbit 100-km away. The mineral composition will be determined by the hyperspectral imaging spectrometer operating in 400-900 nanometer band .