India’s Second Moon Mission Takes Off
One of the most complex and ambitious missions of India’s space programme took off on Monday afternoon. The country’s most powerful rocket GSLV Mk-III, carrying Chandrayaan-2, India’s second mission to Moon, lifted off from India’s spaceport, Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh at 2.43 PM on Monday. 17 minutes later, Chadrayaan-2 was injected into the predetermined transfer orbit around Earth.
The flight was originally to take off on 15th July but had to be scrapped following a technical glitch. It goes to the credit of India’s space scientists that they could identify and correct the flaw in such a short time.
It must be mentioned here that a perfect launch is only the first step in this mission, which is one of the most complex ever undertaken by Indian Space Research Organisation, ISRO. It will take 48 days for Chandrayaan-2 to reach the Moon and make a soft landing, which is scheduled for the 7th of September.
Compared to India’s first mission to Moon, Chandrayaan-1, which was only an orbital mission, this second mission is more complex. It has three components – orbiter, lander, and rover that will work together to study the Moon from above and its surface. Chandrayaan-2’s lander is named Vikram in honour of the Indian scientist Vikram Sarabhai, who is considered the “Father of the Indian Space Programme”. The rover is named Pragyan, meaning ‘wisdom’ in Sanskrit. The orbiter will carry out mapping from an altitude of 100 kilometres, while the lander will make a soft landing and send out the rover to explore the lunar surface.
Originally, under an agreement, Russia was to provide the lander, but ISRO had to design and build it after Russia backed out. Thus, Chandrayaan-2 is totally an Indian mission.
Chandrayaan-2 carries 13 Indian payloads – 8 on the orbiter, 3 on the lander and 2 on the rover – to study the Moon. The lander also carries a NASA laser retro-reflector. The primary objective of the mission is to demonstrate the ability to soft land on the lunar surface and operate a robotic rover on the surface.
The landing spot selected for Chandrayaan-2’s lander is about 600 kilometres from the South Pole in a high plain between two craters, which is the farthest from the equator that any lunar mission would touch down till now. This is significant. Moon’s Polar Regions are intriguing to scientists because water ice is abundant there, on the floors of permanently shadowed craters.
The flight was originally to take off on 15th July but had to be scrapped following a technical glitch. It goes to the credit of India’s space scientists that they could identify and correct the flaw in such a short time.
It must be mentioned here that a perfect launch is only the first step in this mission, which is one of the most complex ever undertaken by Indian Space Research Organisation, ISRO. It will take 48 days for Chandrayaan-2 to reach the Moon and make a soft landing, which is scheduled for the 7th of September.
Compared to India’s first mission to Moon, Chandrayaan-1, which was only an orbital mission, this second mission is more complex. It has three components – orbiter, lander, and rover that will work together to study the Moon from above and its surface. Chandrayaan-2’s lander is named Vikram in honour of the Indian scientist Vikram Sarabhai, who is considered the “Father of the Indian Space Programme”. The rover is named Pragyan, meaning ‘wisdom’ in Sanskrit. The orbiter will carry out mapping from an altitude of 100 kilometres, while the lander will make a soft landing and send out the rover to explore the lunar surface.
Originally, under an agreement, Russia was to provide the lander, but ISRO had to design and build it after Russia backed out. Thus, Chandrayaan-2 is totally an Indian mission.
Chandrayaan-2 carries 13 Indian payloads – 8 on the orbiter, 3 on the lander and 2 on the rover – to study the Moon. The lander also carries a NASA laser retro-reflector. The primary objective of the mission is to demonstrate the ability to soft land on the lunar surface and operate a robotic rover on the surface.
The landing spot selected for Chandrayaan-2’s lander is about 600 kilometres from the South Pole in a high plain between two craters, which is the farthest from the equator that any lunar mission would touch down till now. This is significant. Moon’s Polar Regions are intriguing to scientists because water ice is abundant there, on the floors of permanently shadowed craters.
After Monday’s launch, Chandrayaan-2 has been placed in a highly elongated Earth orbit from where, through several orbit raising manoeuvres, it will gradually move into the gravitational field of Moon and will be placed in a circular polar orbit around Moon at a height of 100 kilometres. The spacecraft will spend 27 days in lunar orbit carrying out several manoeuvres before releasing the lander-rover combine, which will gradually descend to an orbit 30 kilometres above the lunar surface.
In the first week of September, the lander will descend further and make a soft-landing on the lunar surface with the help of retrorockets, over a period of about 15 minutes, which the ISRO Chairman K. Sivan has described as the “most terrifying moments” of the mission.
If everything goes well, India will become the fourth country to land a craft on the Moon after the US, Russia and China.
After the landing, the rover will roll out from the lander and carry out experiments on lunar surface for a period of 1 lunar day, which is equal to 14 Earth days. The orbiter will continue its mission for a year.
Incidentally, ISRO has pointed out that the success rate of lunar landing missions is less than 50%, but given ISRO’s track record, especially with Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 and Mars Orbiter Mission in 2013, the success of Chandrayaan-2 may well be another feather on its cap.
Script: Biman Basu, Senior Science Writer
In the first week of September, the lander will descend further and make a soft-landing on the lunar surface with the help of retrorockets, over a period of about 15 minutes, which the ISRO Chairman K. Sivan has described as the “most terrifying moments” of the mission.
If everything goes well, India will become the fourth country to land a craft on the Moon after the US, Russia and China.
After the landing, the rover will roll out from the lander and carry out experiments on lunar surface for a period of 1 lunar day, which is equal to 14 Earth days. The orbiter will continue its mission for a year.
Incidentally, ISRO has pointed out that the success rate of lunar landing missions is less than 50%, but given ISRO’s track record, especially with Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 and Mars Orbiter Mission in 2013, the success of Chandrayaan-2 may well be another feather on its cap.
Script: Biman Basu, Senior Science Writer
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