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Space & Planetary Science

The Real Reason Why Chandrayaan-I Died

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
September 6, 2009

Chandrayaan-I was ‘killed’ by heat stroke, Times of India
“The reasons for early termination of the Chandrayaan-I mission are now tumbling out and they reveal that ISRO had kept the Moon orbiter’s problems tightly under wraps. Contrary to the space agency’s explanation that Chandrayaan’s orbit around the Moon had been raised from 100km to 200km in May this year for a better view of the Moon’s surface, it is now known that this was because of a miscalculation of the Moon’s temperature that had led to faulty thermal protection. Admitting this, Dr T K Alex, director, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore, said, “We assumed that the temperature at 100km above the Moon’s surface would be around 75 degrees Celsius. However, it was more than 75 degrees and problems started to surface. We had to raise the orbit to 200km.”

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