Sriharikota: Yesterday, India successfully completed its second moon mission by launching Chandrayaan-2 from its most powerful rocket with a strategy to land the rover on 7th of September in the unknown lunar South Pole, which is precisely a week after the Liftoff was terminated because of a technical snag.
By carrying “Billion dreams” in a massive jump for country’s striving low-cost space program, the most difficult and prominent mission ever carried out by the ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) (ISRO). If it gets successful, it will make India the fourth country after the US, China, and Russia to pull off a landing on the moon.
A beaming and relieved ISRO’s Chairman, Mr. K Sivan said at Satish Dhawan Space Centre’s mission control room in Sriharikota, as researchers broke into cheers, “We bounced back with flying colors after the earlier technical snag. Success is coming after a call-off,”
Sivan, who declared the mission’s success, was speaking to the scientists after the high geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle GSLV-MkIII-M1, called as ‘Baahubali,’ lifted-off from the 2nd launchpad into cloudy skies at 2.43 pm and placed the 3,850-kg Chandrayaan-2 into the orbit of the earth around 16 minutes later.
United by President Ram Nath Kovind and leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi applauded the scientists and mentioned every Indian is enormously proud today. Modi referred to the native systems utilized in Chandrayaan-2 in a series of tweets and stated the mission is “Indian at heart, Indian in spirit!” “Efforts such as Chandrayaan-2 will further encourage our bright youngsters towards science, top-quality research, and innovation.”
Moreover, he has shared the pictures of him watching the launch and sent his audio note to the ISRO. He said, “Chandrayaan-2 is unique because it will explore and perform studies on the South Pole region of lunar terrain which is not explored and sampled by any past mission. This mission will offer new knowledge about the moon.”
Instantly after the separation of Chandrayaan-2 from the rocket, the spacecraft’s solar array automatically got deployed. Later, ISRO Telemetry, Command and Tracking Network at Bengaluru took regulation of the spacecraft successfully, the ISRO mentioned in a statement.
As per a statement, Chandrayaan-2, a 3 module spacecraft consisting of the rover, lander, and orbiter, will be subjected to a sequence of orbit maneuvers with its onboard force system to take it to the surrounding area of Moon over the subsequent few weeks with the rover soft landing intended on September 7.
Sivan said right away after the technical snag in an “intelligent way” one week back; the complete team swung into action.
“The work done in the next 24 hours to bring the vehicle back to normal was mind-boggling.”
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Scientists followed by Sivan viewed the launch sequence in captivated attention and broke into praise after each main stage of the rocket’s flight that progressed exactly as programmed. Sivan said, “It is the beginning of a historical journey of India towards the moon.” “After that, the D-Day will come, and on that day we are going to experience 15 minutes of terror, to ensure the landing is safe near the South Pole,” he added further.
The Technology Being Used
The load comprises terrain mapping cameras to systematize a 3D map of the intended area; while a collimated big array, soft x-ray spectrometer is going to map the bulk of key rock-forming elements. An imaging infrared spectrometer is going to recognize minerals with signatures of OH (hydroxyl), and H2O (water) molecules in Polar Regions and an orbiter elevated resolution camera will be responsible for capturing high-resolution images of the landing site.
ISRO, in a statement, said, “While there, we will also explore discoveries made by Chandrayaan-1, such as the presence of water molecules on the Moon and new rock types with unique chemical composition. Through this mission, we aim to expand India’s footprint in space, surpass international aspirations, and inspire a future generation of scientists, engineers, and explorers.”
A safe site for landing would be determined based on images sent back, and after arrival the rover will do experiments for 14 Earth days, equivalent to one Lunar Day.
