Real science: Chandrayaan-1 update: Trajectory, a cost perspective, progress, & rover/human landing schedule

Related: More recent Chandrayaan updates are available.

ISRO has this fantastic schematic of the 3D trajectory of the spacecraft on its way to moon. Click image alongside for full sized image at ISRO site. I wish they had animation showing current location of the craft too!

Rest of this post is based in three articles on the subject from today's Times of India newspaper, Bombay edition.
Note: 1 cr(ore) = 10 million. For numbers above 1000, most languages in India have words in multiples of 100 (rather than 1000 in English). So 1 lakh = 100,000; 1 crore = 100 lakh; ... These words are very commonly used in Indian variant of English.

1. Chandrayaan-2 that puts a rover on moon: 2010. Cost Rs 500 cr, about a quarter more than Chandrayaan-1 (Rs 380 cr). I thought it was due 2011?
2. Manned landing: 2015. At Rs 12,000 cr, it will cost a bit more than 3 times the cost of Chandrayaan-1.
3. Chandrayaan-1 cost "about half the price of a jumbo jet".
   
4. Over its 3 year development life, Chandrayaan-1 consumed about 4% of the budget of ISRO. OK - so it wasn't a major burden.
   
5. "The second orbit-raising maneuver ... was carried out at 5:48 am on Saturday". Orbit parameters after the maneuver: apogee = 74,715 km, perigee = 336 km.

What next?

1. All Chandrayaan posts.
2. All moon posts, including fiction set on moon. A-rated stories probably won't disappoint. For free fiction, search for "full text" (without quotes). Or browse through all free fiction posts, including stories unrelated to moon.
3. Subscribe to Variety SF master feed, Chandrayaan feed, or moon posts feed.