Facts Related Chandrayaan - 2 || GSLV MK 3|| Lunar|| Vikram|| ISRO||

CHANDRAYAAN - 2

Chandrayaan 2 is India's second mission to the moon after Chandrayaan 1.

In great news for the whole country, Chandrayaan 2 has been successfully placed in the moon's orbit! The spacecraft is expected to touch down on the surface of the moon on 7 September 2019. ISRO confirmed that the orbit achieved was 114 km x 18072 km. This means that at this period, the moon was furthest from the earth. So, the earth's gravitational pull on it was minimum. This made it easy for it to slip into the gravitational influence of the satellite planet.

The next the course of action in the mission involves separating the Vikram lander from the orbiter on 2 September as the lander would soft-land on the moon.

Chandrayaan-2 has several science payloads to expand the lunar scientific knowledge through a detailed study of topography, seismography, mineral identification and distribution, surface chemical composition, thermo-physical characteristics of topsoil and composition of the tenuous lunar atmosphere, leading to a new understanding of the origin and evolution of the Moon.

The Orbiter payloads will conduct remote-sensing observations from a 100 km orbit while the Lander and Rover payloads will perform in-situ measurements near the landing site.

AMAZING FACTS OF CHANDRAYAAN-2

1. GSLV MK III is an extremely powerful launcher and being used for this important mission. It has been fully designed and manufactured in India.

2. The biggest challenge would be the successful landing of Chandrayaan 2. In fact, the 15 minutes gap, when the lander separates and before it soft lands on the surface of the moon, are the crucial moments that will decide whether the mission is successful or not.

3. Chandrayaan 2, if successful, will be the first-ever mission that lands a lunar rover near the moon’s south pole.

4. The main scientific objective of Chandrayaan 2 is to explore the south-polar region of the moon and map the location and presence of abundant lunar water.

5. With Chandrayaan 2, India will become the fourth country to soft-land on the lunar surface. The other three countries to have successfully navigated this mission are the United States of America, Russia, and China.

6. The Chandrayaan 2 lunar rover has been named Pragyan. It weighs about 27 kilos and will operate on solar power. The rover, which operates on six wheels will traverse a distance of 300 to 400m on the lunar surface.

7. The lunar orbiter will orbit the moon at an altitude of 100 kilometers. The orbiter’s structure was made by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and was delivered to the Indian space agency in 2015.

8. The Chandrayaan 2 lunar lander has been named Vikram. The Vikram lander will detach from the orbiter and descend to a lunar orbit of 30 km.

9. The life of the rover is expected to be about approximately 14 Earth days (1 lunar day) but it will not travel more than half a kilometer on the surface of the moon. It will move at a rate of 1 cm per second.

10. Chandrayaan 2 mission was signed over a decade ago, between the Russian Federal Agency (Roscosmos) and ISRO. However, as a result of the Fobos-Grunt mission to Mars, Roscosmos withdrew from the project as they had used identical technical schematics in other lunar projects as well.

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