Tonight, India is going to add another glorious page in its history. Chandrayaan 2, India’s second Moon mission and first spacecraft to try soft-landing on any celestial body will try its Moon landing. This is ISRO’s (Indian Space Research Organisation) first such attempt. We don’t know what the result will be but all Indian citizens will be on the edge of their seats tonight.
Here are some interesting facts about Chandrayaan 2:
The main scientific objective is to map the location and abundance of lunar water
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If successful, Chandrayaan-2 will be the southernmost lunar landing, aiming to land at 67°S or 70°S latitude
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History
ISRO would have the prime responsibility for the orbiter and rover, while Roscosmos was to provide the lander
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The design of the spacecraft was completed in August 2009, with scientists of both countries conducting a joint review
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Fobos-Grunt mission was launched on 9 November 2011 at 02:16 local time. Subsequent rocket burns intended to set the craft on a course for Mars failed, leaving it stranded in low Earth orbit. Efforts to reactivate the craft were unsuccessful and it fell back to Earth in an uncontrolled re-entry on 15 January 2012, over the Pacific Ocean west of Chile
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The Chandrayaan 2 is completely made in India
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Launch
Two of the lander’s legs got minor damage during one of the tests in February 2019
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The launch was rescheduled to 22 July 2019
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It consists of a lunar orbiter, a lander named Vikram, and a lunar rover named Pragyan
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Such long Earth-bound phase with multiple orbit-raising manoeuvres exploiting was required because of the limited lifting capacity of the launch vehicle and thrust of the spacecraft’s onboard propulsion system. A similar strategy was used for Chandrayaan-1 and the Mars Orbiter Mission during their Earth-bound phase trajectory
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This also resulted in the saving of around 40 kg fuel onboard the spacecraft
Appendix: Apogee
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Chandrayaan 2 Orbiter
Payloads of Orbitor are
1. Chandrayaan-2 Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer (CLASS)
2. Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) for mapping major elements present on the lunar surface
3. Dual Frequency L and S band Synthetic Aperture Radar for probing the first few tens of metres of the lunar surface for the presence of different constituents, including water ice
4. Imaging IR Spectrometer (IIRS) for mapping of lunar surface over a wide wavelength range for the study of minerals, water molecules and hydroxyl present
5. Chandrayaan-2 Atmospheric Compositional Explorer 2 (ChACE-2) Quadrupole Mass Analyzer to carry out a detailed study of the lunar Exosphere
6. Terrain Mapping Camera-2 (TMC-2) for preparing a three-dimensional map essential for studying the lunar mineralogy and geology
7. Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive Ionosphere and Atmosphere – Dual Frequency Radio Science experiment (RAMBHA-DFRS)
8. Orbiter High-Resolution Camera (OHRC) for scouting a hazard-free spot for landing
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Imagery from OHRC helped prepare digital elevation models of the lunar surface
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The approximate launch mass of orbiter was 2,379 kg (5,245 lb
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Vikram Lander
The mission’s lander is called Vikram named after Vikram Sarabhai (1919–1971), who is widely regarded as the founder of the Indian space program
The additional engine is expected to mitigate upward draft of lunar dust during the soft landing
Engineering models of the lander began undergoing ground and aerial tests in late October 2016
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Payloads of Vikram Lander are
- Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) Seismometer for studying Moon-quakes near the landing site
2. Chandra’s Surface Thermo-physical Experiment (ChaSTE) Thermal probe for estimating the thermal properties of the lunar surface
3. RAMBHA-LP Langmuir probe for measuring the density and variation of lunar surface plasma
4. A laser retroreflector array (LRA) for taking precise measurements of the distance between the reflector on the lunar surface and satellites in lunar orbit
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Pragyan Rover
The criteria used to select the landing zones were: south polar region, on the near side, slope less than 15 degrees, boulders less than 50 cm (20 in), crater and boulder distribution, sunlit for at least 14 days, nearby ridges do not shadow the site for long durations
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The Dimensions of the rover is 0.9 × 0.75 × 0.85 m
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Pragyan rover carries two instruments to determine the abundance of elements near the landing site:
Laser-induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS)
Alpha Particle Induced X-ray Spectroscope (APXS)
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However, its power system has a solar-powered sleep/wake-up cycle implemented, which could result in longer service time than planned
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Because there is no air on moon, these tracks will stay there forever
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ISRO chief Dr. K Sivan told in an interview: “This is a very, very complex process, and it is new to us, even for the people who have already done it, every time, it is a complex process. Here we are doing for the first time, so it will be fifteen minutes of terror for us,”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be at the ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru around midnight to watch the event
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Source: Wikipedia, ISRO
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