WHEN India’s most ambitious space expedition — Chandrayaan — takes off in 2008, Pune will be watching keenly. Because, it’s the city-based Precision Automation and Robotics India (PARI) that will be working closely with Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram to design the lunar rover, which would collect vital information about the moon’s surface. Moreover, the company is also designing robotic models that could get Chandrayaan-1 to re-enter the earth’s atmosphere safely.
Chandrayaan-1 would orbit the lunar surface pole-to-pole for two years in a bid to conduct the first comprehensive mineral scanning and record high-resolution, 3D maps of the entire lunar surface.
A senior official at VSSC said they are keen to begin work with PARI on the lunar rover soon. ‘‘Presently, we are configuring the device and developing the mobility and control systems for the rover. Weighing 50 kg, the rover will traverse the moon’s surface and collect lunar samples, which will further be analysed to generate rich and unexplored scientific data. We are hopeful that we will be able to use the lunar rover for the second mission,’’ the official told Pune Newsline from Thiruvananthapuram.
Given PARI’s expertise in robotics, VSSC wants to work jointly with the company to design the rover and also the vision-based guidance systems that would allow it to manoeuvre across hostile lunar terrain.
Moreover, the Pune-based company is also currently on the verge of completing two related projects that deal with critical areas like a spacecraft’s ability to withstand extreme atmospheric pressure without disintegrating.
‘‘We are working with VSSC to design systems for testing re-entry conditions for space vehicles. For this, a large, high speed wind tunnel is required to test the effect of Mach plus forces on the spacecraft. Our contribution is through the supply of the robots that can be tested within the wind tunnel, so that the effect of forces can be simulated and gauged,’’ PARI director Ranjit Date said adding, these systems are likely be used in the moon expedition as well.
Besides, the company is also undertaking a project to calibrate space antennae by using robots to manipulate the sensors — another project that might find lunar application.
PARI had recently been signed on by the Indian Army to design an entire gamut of devices — from doppler radars to high explosives. The company has successfully devised a ‘plasma spluttering aerospace application’ which is vital to take ahead India’s plans of developing a stealth bomber.
‘‘Until now, India was lagging behind in space and armament technology as it was either prohibitively expensive or shrouded behind a cloud of secrecy. Through a combination of indigenous technology and with our collaborations with foreign agencies, we have been able to develop models that are comparable to the best in the world,’’ Date added.
The expedition
Chandrayaan-1 is India’s first scientific mission to moon. The mission is aimed at expanding the scientific knowledge about the moon, upgrading India’s technological capability and providing challenging opportunities for planetary research to the younger generation. The scientific objectives of Chandrayaan-1 are the high resolution remote sensing of the moon in the visible, near infrared, low energy X-ray and high-energy X-ray regions for preparing a 3-dimensional atlas of regions of scientific interest with a high spatial and altitude resolution of 5-10 m and chemical mapping of the entire lunar surface for elements such as magnesium, aluminium, silicon, calcium, iron and titanium with a spatial resolution of 10 km and elements of high atomic numbers.
The lunar rover
The lunar roving vehicle or lunar rover or LRV is a land vehicle for use on the moon. It will traverse the moon’s surface and collect lunar samples, which will further be analysed to generate rich and unexplored scientific data.