In the past five decades, ISRO has come a long way from launching its first sounding rocket in 1965 to the successful launch of Mars Orbiter Mission in one attempt. Chandrayan-2 is the latest lander and rover mission by ISRO. It is the second lunar exploration mission of India after Chandrayan-1 under the program Chandrayan. On 22nd July, 2019 at 2:43 PM, the mission was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre from Shri Harikota. This project illustrates the prowess of Indian scientists to scale the new frontiers of Science.
Read more: What is Poor Index? Is this government going to bring reservation for the poor?
Fully indigenous mission
One of the reason why 1.2 crore countrymen have their eyes on CHnadrayan-2 mission is that it is a fully indigenous mission. Another thing to proud about this project is that it is led by two Indian women scientist- Muthaya Vanitha, the project director, and Ritu Karidhal, the mission director.
This project consists of Lander rover module and orbiter for remote sensing of the moon for the detailed analysis of lunar surface. With this mission, India is expected to make the soft-landing on the surface of the moon. Before commencing the manoeuvres that will move the spacecraft into the lunar orbit, the spacecraft will stay in the Earth’s orbit for 23 days. After this, the spacecraft will make the soft landing on the Moon’s surface on 6 or 7 September, 2019. Indian scientists have taken circuitous route to take advantage of the Earth’s gravity, which will help slingshot the satellite towards the Moon. This will help in reducing the consumption of fuel to launch the project.
Read more: How Indian army was trained for surgical strike?
Exploring the unexplored South Pole on moon
Chandrayan-2 mission is significant as it will explore the South Pole region on Moon which has never been explored or sampled. This will greatly help in the study of life on moon. Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk-III) in used in this mission to launch orbiter, lander (named as Vikram) and rover (Pragyan). The orbiter will take the pictures of the surface of the moon and the lander contains the rover (weighs 27 kg) in its belly which is equipped with the instrument to analyse the soil of lunar surface. The rover has a life of around 14-days during which it will travel for half kilometre on the lunar surface and send data and images on the Earth. It weighs 640 tonnes (almost 1.5 times the weight of a fully-loaded 747 jumbo jet). Its height is 44 metres (144ft) which is as high as a 14-storey building.