Google

Indian Institute of Astrophysics

LUCI

Satellite

Bengaluru

Earlier this month, an international panel of expert judges from theLunar XPRIZE was in the city to review the detailed mission plan of TeamIndus. While the team of experts expressed satisfaction over the progress made by city-based startup in its quest for the $30 million Google Lunar XPRIZE mission, another co-passenger which will be part of the mission is being quickly readied by a team of students from the(IIA).The Lunar Ultraviolet Cosmic Imager (LUCI) a telescope that will be onboard TeamIndus’s spacecraft to the moon has already successfully undergone structural and vibrations tests. Thewill be mounted on the lunar lander developed by Team Indus and will survey the sky from the surface of the moon.The objective of the 1.2 kg LUCI telescope will be to focus on bright Ultraviolet (UV) sources that are not accessible by the more sensitive large space missions.“The final assembly of LUCI is taking place at the IIA after assembling the telescope another vibration test is due. We hope to finish all work and hand over it over to TeamIndus by December,” said Joice Mathew, a member of the IIA team. The IIA team has been working on the project for developing the telescope since 2013. Google had recently extended the launch deadline for the Google Lunar XPRIZE. The date was extended till March next year for the five privately funded competing teams to land a spacecraft on the moon from December 31. The spacecraft will be launched by ISRO’s PolarLaunch Vehicle. Mathew said that though the IIA team did not meet the Google expert panel during theirvisit, the team is happy that there were no faults.