The impact probe weighing 29 kg will ride piggyback on the top deck of the main orbiter and will be released at a predetermined time after the orbiter reaches the final 100km orbit to impact at a pre-selected location. During the descent phase it is in spin-stabilized configuration. The total flight time from release to impact on Moon will be close to twenty minutes.
Major Objectives
- Design, development and demonstration of technologies required for impacting a probe at a desired location on the moon.
- Qualify technologies required for future soft landing missions.
- Exploration of the moon from close range.
Payload Configuration Details
There will be three major payloads in the Moon Impact Probe
- Radar Altimeter - for measurement of altitude of the Moon Impact Probe above the lunar surface and qualify technologies for future landing mi ssions. The operating frequency band is 4.3 GHz � 100 MHz
- Video Imaging System - for acquiring images of the surface of moon from the descending probe. The video imaging system consists of analog CCD camera along with a video decoder
- Mass Spectrometer - A state-of-the-art Quadrupole mass spectrometer with a mass resolution of 0.5 amu and sensitive to partial pressure of the order of 10-15 torr for measuring the constituents of tenuous lunar atmosphere during descent.
The dimension of the impact probe is 375 mm x 375 mm x 470 mm
