Team Indus GLXP Lunar Mission Thread

[Bad Guy]

With ISRO Deal, Indian Space Startup Gets Big Boost In Global Space Race

Team Indus has signed a deal with ISRO to send a rover to the moon using its PSLV rocket.
Story Highlights

• Private space company Team Indus signs deal to use ISRO's PSLV rocket
• Rocket will carry rover, lander, orbiter to the moon by end of 2017
• Only among 30 contenders for $20 million prize to seal such a deal

Bengaluru: It may be just one step for a small startup, but it is a giant leap for India's space program. Team Indus, a private company that wants to be India's first to send a rover to the moon, has bought a ticket aboard a 320-ton giant rocket, bringing it closer to its goal.

The moonshot will be realised with the trusted Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle or PSLV engineered by India's space agency ISRO. Team Indus is buying the launch at commercial rates, says ISRO. Besides a trip to the moon and the bragging rights that follow, the coveted Google Lunar XPRIZE is also at stake.

Team Indus is working on their moon mission from their Bengaluru HQ.

Announced in 2007, the competition offers a $20 million first prize to the first privately funded teams to land a robot on the moon that successfully travels more than 500 meters and transmits back high-definition images and video.

A diverse group of around 100 people formed in 2010, Bengaluru-based Team Indus aims to send an orbiter, a lander and a rover to the moon before end of 2017. Among the 30-odd contenders for the prize from around the world, only Team Indus has procured a rocket contract for a functional launcher.

A prototype of the Team Indus rover that plans to explore the moon.

"We have signed a launch services agreement with Team Indus which essentially provides a PSLV launch for launching a lunar orbiter and lander sometime in the fourth quarter of 2017," Rakesh Sasibhushan, Chairman and Managing Director of Antrix Corporation - the commercial arm of ISRO, Bengaluru - told NDTV.

Having inked the deal, the group has to now race against time to meet the deadline and also meet ISRO's stringent specifications to make its payload worthy of flying on a national resource.

Is ISRO taking a big risk by launching a lunar satellite from a novice company? "Not really. All satellites that have to fly on the PSLV have to undergo a qualification test and we will ensure that the satellite is worthy of flying on the PSLV," Mr Sashibhushan said.

In my opinion, launching HHK-1 rover of team Indus in 2017 will further bear experience for Cdy-2's rover in 2018.
And again, it will be covered on this thread because it's about any Indian Lunar probe not only from ISRO or VSSC.
@Abingdonboy @anant_s @Hindustani78

 

[Bad Guy]

@[Bregs] @IndoCarib @samlove @Soumitra

 

[Indx-techs]

Lander:

Rover:

Operator: Axiom Research Labs

Registered Team: Team Indus, a Google Lunar X Prize team

Mission type: Lunar Rover

Proposed Launch date: Q4-2017

Proposed trajectory: 9 Steps to Moon
1. G1 – Initial Orbit: 880 x 71,000 km
2. G2 – 48 hours
3. G3 – 144 hours
4. G4 – Lunar Transfer Trajectory
5. S1 – Initial Lunar orbit with capture burn of 250 seconds
6. S2 – Orbit lowered to 3500 km apolune
7. S3 – Parking orbit – 100 x 100 km
8. S4 – Orbit lowered 12.6 km perilune
9. Descent Trajectory – braking from 1.7 km/s

Launch vehicle:
PSLV operated by ISRO (proposed)

Launch site:
SDSC, Sriharikota (proposed)

Mission duration:
Flight duration: 30 days
Surface operations: 10-15 days

Orbital parameters:
Earth Inclination : 19.2 degrees
Moon Inclination: 143 degrees
Argument of Perigee: 178 degrees

Delta – V:
Orbital – 1270 m/s
Descent – 1940 m/s
Net – 3210 m/s

Mass:
Lift off Mass: ~ 600kgs
Propellant Mass: ~ 404 kg
Landed Mass: ~210 kg

Total Lunar Payload mass: ~ 20kgs

 

[Water Car Engineer]

They should get some funds.

 

[AMCA]

So basically India has two Moon Programs? One by ISRO and another by team INDUS... Am I right?

 

[Indx-techs]

So basically India has two Moon Programs? One by ISRO and another by team INDUS... Am I right?

For governmental program, it's way more, to collect and analyze minerals inside the moonsoil. I remember once chief has mentioned about nuclear propulsion in Chandrayaan 3 or 4. There's mention of study being done for a rendezvous space docking experiment in outcome budget report (unfortunately I don't have privileges to post links) alongwith development of an HLV class. once mentioned of asteroid and Jupiter.

So, India's long term space exploration aim isn't distinct from other players .i.e. colonizing and exploiting resources or even mining.