Chandrayaan-1 was India’s first unmanned lunar probe. It is Cuboid in shape of approximately 1. 5 m . The main scientific objectives of the Chandrayaan was to design, develop, launch and orbit a spacecraft around the Moon using an Indian-made launch-vehicle and to conduct scientific experiments using instruments on the spacecraft It was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation in October 2008, and operated until August 2009.

India launched the spacecraft with a PSLV, on 22 October 2008 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, at 06:22 IST. The mission was a major boost to India’s space program, as India researched and developed its own technology in order to explore the Moon. The vehicle was successfully inserted into lunar orbit on 8 November 2008.

On 14 November 2008, the Moon Impact Probe separated from the Chandrayaan orbiter and struck the south pole in a controlled manner, making India the fourth country to place its flag on the Moon The lunar satellite had a mass of 1,380 kilograms at launch and 675 kilograms in lunar orbit. It carried high resolution remote sensing equipment. The lunar mission carries five ISRO payloads and six payloads from other space agencies including NASA, ESA, and the Bulgarian Aerospace Agency, which were carried free of cost.

After suffering from several technical issues including failure of the star sensors and poor thermal shielding, Chandrayaan stopped sending radio signals on 29 August 2009 shortly after which, the ISRO officially declared the mission over. The Main culprit is said to be the failure of onboard DC-DC Converter manufactured by mdipower USA . Chandrayaan operated for 312 days as opposed to the intended two years but the mission achieved 95 percent of its planned objectives. Among its many achievements was the discovery of the widespread presence of water molecules in lunar soil.