Mission Chandrayaan-2 - Successful journey towards the Moon
Mission Chandrayaan-2 - Successful journey towards the Moon
Gowthami S
7th September 2019, a historic day for India. A much-awaited event was going to happen. The whole nation came along with team ISRO to be part of the journey of Chandrayaan-2. We were going to be the first country who would ever touch Moon's South Pole region.
ISRO launched Chandrayaan- 2 mission on 22nd July. The three-part spacecraft, GSLV Mk III carried a lunar orbiter, lander, and rover destined for the moon's surface. Everything went on smoothly when suddenly Isro lost touch with the Vikram lander minutes before it was to land near the south pole of the Moon. Vikram lander was lost when it was just 2.1 kilometres above the lunar surface.
Today, the entire world is hailing our scientists for their toil and dare to touch that part of the moon where no one else has managed to. However, ISRO believes that all is not lost as far as the Rs 978 crore Chandrayaan-2 mission is concerned. Only 5 per cent of the mission has been lost - Vikram the lander and Pragyan the rover - while the remaining 95 per cent - that is the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter - is orbiting the moon successfully.
Some of the fascinating mission about this mission are :
· This whole mission budget costs less than half of the budget of the entire "Avengers Endgame" movie.
· India designed GSLV MK III, the most powerful rocket launcher.
· For the first time in India's space history, an interplanetary expedition is being led by two women - Muthaya Vanitha, the project director, and Ritu Karidhal, the mission director.
· India chose to explore the southern pole of the moon as this area remains in shadow in the absence of sunlight. ISRO believes that there is a possibility of the presence of water in permanently shadowed areas around it.
Chandrayaan 2's predecessor, the Chandrayaan 1 detected slabs of water ice buried in the always-shadowed craters near the moon's south pole. Thus, it gave birth to a new mission. Now, India is ready to mark its name in space with its upcoming missions. ISRO may have missed rejoicing the victory of Vikram's soft landing, but they will continue to explore the moon with the help of their orbiter which is currently revolving around the moon, nearly 100 km above its surface. It is going to collect one of the most crucial data for the next powerful mission.
