What is Chandrayaan 2?
Chandrayaan 2 was India‘s second Lunar mission, followed by Chandrayaan 1 mission that helped to confirm the existence of water on the moon in 2009.
Chandrayaan 2 aims to send an orbiter, lander, and rover to the Moon. In July 2019, three vehicles were launched as a single spacecraft to Lunar orbit. The lander, which carried the rover, made and unsuccessful attempt to land (just 1.3 miles above the lunar surface) in the Moon’s southern hemisphere.
The instruments and technologies on Chandrayaan 2 have been improved for future planetary missions. The orbiter is designed to remain operation for 7 years, while the lander and rover were expected to survive a single lunar daytime if they had landed successfully.
Mission Objectives
The primary objectives of the Chandrayaan 2 lander were to illustrate the ability to soft-land and operate a robotic rover on the lunar surface. The scientific objectives are:
- Mapping the Moon’s topography,
- Investigating surface mineralogy and abdomens of elements,
- Studying the exosphere of the Moon,
- Mapping the lunar surface and help to prepare 3D maps of it, and
- Searching for water ice and hydroxyl signatures.
Components of Spacecraft
The mission Chandrayaan 2 was launched on GSLV Mk III M1 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Sriharikota Island of Andhra Pradesh, with a cost of ₹ 9.7 billion (approx. US $141 million). It consists of three different modules including Orbiter, Vikram lander and Pragyan rover.
Launcher
The mission used most powerful launcher India has ever produced, the GSLV Mk III, was entirely designed and build in the country. It successfully launched the Chandrayaan 2 space craft into its targeted orbit of 169.7 km perigee and 45,475 km apogee.
Orbiter
The orbiter which is orbiting the Moon at an altitude of 100 km. Two of eight instruments it carries are upgraded versions of those used on Chandrayaan 1. The Orbiter can able to establish communication with the Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) located at Byalalu as well as Vikram Lander. The structure of the orbital was manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
Dimensions: 3.2 × 5.8 × 2.2 m
Mass: 682 kg
Power generation capability: 1000 watts
Vikram Lander
Chandrayaan-2’s lander was named Vikram after the father of the Indian space program, Dr. Vikram A. Sarabhai. The Lander has the capability to soft land at a specific lunar site and deploy a rover that will perform in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface. Initially, the lander had four main liquid engines, but later added a centrally located engine to accommodate the need to orbit the Moon before landing. The second engine was expected to reduce the upward draft of lunar dust during the soft landing. The Lander was designed to land safely on slopes up to 12 degrees.
Dimensions: 2.54 × 2 × 1.2 m
Mass: 626 kg
Power generation capability: 650 W
Pragyan Rover
The mission’s rover, named Pragyan, having a mass about sixty pounds (27 kg), and it ran on solar energy. The rover was designed to travel 500 meters (1,600 feet) at a speed of 1 cm/s (0.39 inch/s) across the lunar surface while operating six wheels. It was also intended to conduct on-site investigations and transmit data to the lander, which was supposed to transmit it to Mission Control back on Earth. The Pragyan rover’s electronics were not made to withstand the cold lunar night therefore, its scheduled functional lifetime was one lunar day, or about 14 Earth days.
Dimensions: 0.9 × 0.75 × 0.85 m
Power: 50 watts
Travel speed: 1 cm/sec
Timeline of the Mission
| Event Date | Event Timeline |
|---|---|
July 15 | Little under an hour before liftoff, a technical issue with the GSLV Mk III rocket led to the Chandrayaan 2 mission's abortion at 02.51 hours. |
July 22 | A week after the first attempt at Chandrayaan-2 launch was abandoned due to a technical glitch 56 minutes before liftoff, the second attempt went off smoothly. |
July 24 | At 14:52 hours, Chandrayaan 2 executed its inaugural earthbound orbit manoeuvre. |
July 26 | Chandrayaan 2 executed its second manoeuvre while on Earth. |
July 29 | Chandrayaan 2 executed its third manoeuvre while on Earth. |
Aug 2 | Chandrayaan 2 executed its fourth manoeuvre while on Earth. |
Aug 6 | Chandrayaan 2 executed its fifth manoeuvre while on Earth. |
Aug 20 | Chandrayaan 2 executed the Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) manoeuvre with success. The obtained orbit measured 114 km × 18072 km. |
Aug 21 | Chandrayaan-2 executed the second Lunar Orbit manoeuvre with success. |
Aug 28 | Chandrayaan-2 executed the third Lunar Orbit Manoeuvre with success. |
Aug 30 | Chandrayaan-2 executed the fourth Lunar Orbit Manoeuvre with success. |
Sep 1 | Chandrayaan 2 executed the fifth and final Lunar Orbit manoeuvre with success. At its closest point, the spacecraft was 119 km from the lunar surface, while at its furthest point, it was 127 km. |
Sep 2 | The lander module of Chandrayaan 2, Vikram, separated from the main spacecraft and began its own independent orbit around the moon. |
Sep 3 | The Vikram lander approached the Moon and separated from the main spacecraft. |
Sep 4 | The second de-orbiting procedure was executed successfully by the Vikram Lander. |
Sep 7 | At 2.30 in the morning, the Moon lander "Vikram" and rover "Pragyaan" made landfall in the South Polar region of the Moon. The crucial landing of "Vikram" was executed with precision by a minimum of eight onboard pieces of equipment. |
Achievements
Although Chandrayaan 2 failed to land on the moon, but it achieved many scientific and technological milestones.
- Detecting Water: the first indication of water on the Moon came from the Chandrayaan 1 spacecraft. In August 2022, Chandrayaan 2 discovered water and hydroxyl ions on the moon.
- Identifying rare elements: CLASS (Chandra’s Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer) instrument used in the mission found magnesium, aluminium, silica, calcium, titanium and iron on the moon.
- Mapping the Moon: High-resolution images of the Moon’s polar regions and a global map of the Moon’s sodium were produced during the mission.
- Detection of Sodium (Na): In October 2023, orbital discovered an extensive amount of sodium on the Moon’s surface. It is proven that the moon has a thousands of kilometres long tail made of sodium atoms. CLASS, the probe used in the mission has found and mapped sodium on the lunar surface.
Why Chandrayaan 2 Failed?
After a successful 48-day journey from Sriharikota in India to the south-polar region of the moon, there was disappointment in the last few minutes for ISRO and India. ISRO lost contact with the Vikram Lander when it was just about 2.1 kilometers from the surface of the moon as planned, and the normal performance was observed up to an altitude of two points, one kilometer; subsequently, the communication from the lander to the ground station was vast, and the data is being analyzed. The Vikram Lander was scheduled to land at about 1:53 a.m. on 7 September, and it had to go through a series of braking maneuvers. Now, soft landing on the moon is a very difficult task. There have been 38 attempts so far, of which only 50% have been successful with the Viking lander. It had to go through a rough braking phase and a fine braking phase. As we were watching, the rough braking phase was successfully completed, but as it was about to begin the fine braking phase, there was a loss in communication. Now, his row has not given up hope, and it says it will still try and revive communications with the lander, and the orbiter still continues to circle the moon at a distance of about 100 kilometers from the surface.
Conclusion
The goal of India’s ambitious lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2, was to investigate the south pole of the moon. It was launched by ISRO in July 2019 and included a lander (Vikram), rover (Pragyan), and orbiter. The lander’s attempt at a soft landing was failed, but the orbiter is still sending useful data. Despite the failure, the mission is regarded as an important achievement that highlights India’s developing capabilities in space exploration. Essential information regarding the Moon’s surface, exosphere, and water ice content have been delivered by Chandrayaan-2, opening the door for subsequent missions, such as the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 in 2023.
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