Chandrayaan 2: Another giant leap for India!
Since the dawn of the Earthy civilizations, people of various regions were keenly interested to gaze an object in the sky at night for hours, the object was and definitely is, "The Moon"!
The Moon sparked the interest of space exploration (basically, astronomy) in us which lead to the deepening of our understanding about our universe.
Since the 20th century, humans are trying to turn their passion for moon exploration into a reality and they are successful in doing so.
The first country to land their probe on the moon was the USSR with their Luna mission.
But the first country to land humans on the moon, as we all know was the USA with their Apollo mission.
The Moon sparked the interest of space exploration (basically, astronomy) in us which lead to the deepening of our understanding about our universe.
Since the 20th century, humans are trying to turn their passion for moon exploration into a reality and they are successful in doing so.
The first country to land their probe on the moon was the USSR with their Luna mission.
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| Luna mission of USSR |
But the first country to land humans on the moon, as we all know was the USA with their Apollo mission.
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| Apollo 11 (Source: NBC News) |
Since then, several countries have sent their probes to either land or orbit the moon. India has also sent one of its probes, Chandrayaan (1) to orbit the moon.
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| Chandrayaan 1 (Wikipedia) |
The mission was successful and helped us find water on the moon!!! Even NASA recognized the potential of ISRO after this mission!!!
And recently, on 22nd July 2019, India launched its another iteration of Chandrayaan series, namely Chandrayaan 2.
And recently, on 22nd July 2019, India launched its another iteration of Chandrayaan series, namely Chandrayaan 2.
A Brief Introduction to Chandrayaan 2
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| Chandrayaan 2 by ISRO |
Chandrayaan 2 is the second mission after Chandrayaan 1 conducted by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to study the moon.
Its main objective is to map and study variations in lunar surface composition as well as to find the abundance of water on the lunar surface.
It consists of an orbiter, a rover (called Pragyan) and a lander (called Vikram). The best part of this mission was that all of these three were MADE IN INDIA!
Chandrayaan 2 was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (second launch pad) aboard the GSLV Mark III on 22 July 2019.
An interesting fact is that the cost of this mission was just $141 Million! It is even less than what was spent on the movie Avengers: Endgame ($350 Million).
It entered into the Moon's orbit on 20 August 2019.
The rover was destined to land on the near side of the moon, in the south polar region. It had to conduct scientific experiments for 1 lunar day (or 14 earth days).
Unfortunately, India was unable to successfully land the Pragyan rover as it lost connection with the Vikram Lander during the descent phase.
If India was successful at landing the rover, it would have made India the fourth country to do so after the USA, China and USSR.
Now let us read about this mission in detail!!!It consists of an orbiter, a rover (called Pragyan) and a lander (called Vikram). The best part of this mission was that all of these three were MADE IN INDIA!
Chandrayaan 2 was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (second launch pad) aboard the GSLV Mark III on 22 July 2019.
An interesting fact is that the cost of this mission was just $141 Million! It is even less than what was spent on the movie Avengers: Endgame ($350 Million).
It entered into the Moon's orbit on 20 August 2019.
The rover was destined to land on the near side of the moon, in the south polar region. It had to conduct scientific experiments for 1 lunar day (or 14 earth days).
Unfortunately, India was unable to successfully land the Pragyan rover as it lost connection with the Vikram Lander during the descent phase.
If India was successful at landing the rover, it would have made India the fourth country to do so after the USA, China and USSR.
The Objectives of Chandrayaan 2
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| Chandrayaan 2 (Source: India Today) |
Chandrayaan 2, as said earlier, was the successor of the Chandrayaan 1 mission. Most of the objectives of Chandrayaan 2 were the same as that of Chandrayaan 1.
But, there is one major difference. Chandrayaan 1 was launched to demonstrate India's capability of making successful orbiters. But, Chandrayaan 2 is launched to test India's capability of making successful landers and rovers.
Some of the scientific objectives of the mission were to study the lunar topography, mineralogy, elementary abundance, the lunar exosphere, and water-ice.
Some of the scientific objectives of the mission were to study the lunar topography, mineralogy, elementary abundance, the lunar exosphere, and water-ice.
History of the Mission
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| Muthayya Vanitha and Ritu Karidhal, the project director and mission director, respectively. (Source: IndiaTV) |
If you think, the initiative to launch the Chandrayaan 2 by India was taken recently, then my friend, you are wrong!
It all started when ISRO and Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) joined hands to work on the Chandrayaan 2 project on 12 November 2007. While ISRO was responsible for the orbiter and the rover, Roscosmos was to provide the lander.
Did you know that this mission was to be executed in 2013? ISRO finalized the payloads as per its schedule but Russia wasn't able to provide the lander. This led the date of launch to be shifted from 2013 to 2016.
Later, Roscosmos withdrew from this agreement due to the failure of its Fobos - Grunt mission to Mars in which it used the same lander technology that was to be given to ISRO.
After the withdrawal of Roscosmos, ISRO decided to make the lander independently and indigenously! This step took India two years more to develop a lander, which is named, Vikram.
The mission was set to launch in March 2018 but was rescheduled twice (first April and then to October) to conduct further tests on the vehicle. Later, several changes to the landing sequence led to the mission being pushed to 2019.
Chandrayaan 2 was initially set to launch on 15 July 2019 (14 July as per UTC) but it was aborted almost 1 hour before the launch due to some "technical glitch". Some reports say that a leak in the nipple joint of a helium gas bottle was the cause of cancellation, however, this wasn't confirmed by ISRO.
Finally, Chandrayaan 2 was launched aboard the GSLV MK III vehicle on 22 July 2019. Many people in Australia, immediately after the launch, observed slow-moving bright objects in the sky which could be related to the upper stage venting of residual propellent after the main burn.
The Chandrayaan 2 then entered its Geocentric Phase in which it would gain speed by revolving around the Earth in eccentric orbits to get ready for trans-lunar insertion. On 3 August 2019, the camera aboard the Chandrayaan 2 captured the first set of images which were made public by ISRO.
After 29 days of its launch, Chandrayaan 2 entered into the lunar orbit on 20 August 2019 after performing a lunar orbit insertion burn for 28 minutes and 57 seconds. Till 1 September 2019, the highly elliptical orbit of the orbiter was changed to a near circle one. This was followed by the separation of the Vikram Lander from the orbiter on 2 September 2019.
The prime landing site of the Vikram Lander was on a high plain between the craters Manzinus C and Simpelius N, on the near side of the moon.
The Vikram Lander began its descent at 20:08 UTC, on 6 September 2019. It was expected to soft-land on the moon's surface at 20:23 UTC. The mission control had no control on the descent and landing as it was controlled by the on-board computer of the lander.
Still, ISRO tried to connect with the lander for the next 15 days to check if it can connect even after the impact. But unfortunately, they weren't able to re-establish the connection with the lander.
The ISRO Cheif, K. Sivan asked the Failure Analysis Committee to look into this matter. Till then, both NASA and ISRO tried to locate the debris of the lander but due to unfavorable lighting conditions, they weren't able to do so. At last, ISRO with the help of a volunteer Shanmuga Subramanian (Chennai), was able to locate the debris from the images released by NASA.
The Failure Analysis Committee on November 16, 2019, concluded that the crash occurred due to a software glitch. The problem occurred in the second phase of the descent, in which, the reduction in the velocity was more than expected leading to deviation in the path of the lander. Even then, the lander had managed to crash near the landing area. The complete findings of the mission have not been made public.
It all started when ISRO and Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) joined hands to work on the Chandrayaan 2 project on 12 November 2007. While ISRO was responsible for the orbiter and the rover, Roscosmos was to provide the lander.
Did you know that this mission was to be executed in 2013? ISRO finalized the payloads as per its schedule but Russia wasn't able to provide the lander. This led the date of launch to be shifted from 2013 to 2016.
Later, Roscosmos withdrew from this agreement due to the failure of its Fobos - Grunt mission to Mars in which it used the same lander technology that was to be given to ISRO.
After the withdrawal of Roscosmos, ISRO decided to make the lander independently and indigenously! This step took India two years more to develop a lander, which is named, Vikram.
The mission was set to launch in March 2018 but was rescheduled twice (first April and then to October) to conduct further tests on the vehicle. Later, several changes to the landing sequence led to the mission being pushed to 2019.
Get Ready for the Launch!
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| Launch of Chandrayaan 2 (Source: The Economic Times) |
Chandrayaan 2 was initially set to launch on 15 July 2019 (14 July as per UTC) but it was aborted almost 1 hour before the launch due to some "technical glitch". Some reports say that a leak in the nipple joint of a helium gas bottle was the cause of cancellation, however, this wasn't confirmed by ISRO.
Finally, Chandrayaan 2 was launched aboard the GSLV MK III vehicle on 22 July 2019. Many people in Australia, immediately after the launch, observed slow-moving bright objects in the sky which could be related to the upper stage venting of residual propellent after the main burn.
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| The Geocentric Phase |
The Chandrayaan 2 then entered its Geocentric Phase in which it would gain speed by revolving around the Earth in eccentric orbits to get ready for trans-lunar insertion. On 3 August 2019, the camera aboard the Chandrayaan 2 captured the first set of images which were made public by ISRO.
Some of the Earth images taken by the Vikram Lander:
Chandrayaan 2 enters into the lunar orbit!
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| Entry into the Lunar Orbit |
After 29 days of its launch, Chandrayaan 2 entered into the lunar orbit on 20 August 2019 after performing a lunar orbit insertion burn for 28 minutes and 57 seconds. Till 1 September 2019, the highly elliptical orbit of the orbiter was changed to a near circle one. This was followed by the separation of the Vikram Lander from the orbiter on 2 September 2019.
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| The prime landing site of the Vikram Lander |
Why did the landing fail?
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| Debris of the crashed Vikram Lander |
The Vikram Lander began its descent at 20:08 UTC, on 6 September 2019. It was expected to soft-land on the moon's surface at 20:23 UTC. The mission control had no control on the descent and landing as it was controlled by the on-board computer of the lander.
Everything was going good until the trajectory of the lander began to deviate at about 2.1 kilometers above the surface of the moon. At about 400 meters above the moon's surface, ISRO lost the contact with the Vikram Lander. The whole world was in a state of confusion and everybody was praying for the well-being of the lander.
The initial reports of the crash were confirmed by the ISRO chief, K. Sivan stating that:
It must have been a hard landing.
Still, ISRO tried to connect with the lander for the next 15 days to check if it can connect even after the impact. But unfortunately, they weren't able to re-establish the connection with the lander.
The ISRO Cheif, K. Sivan asked the Failure Analysis Committee to look into this matter. Till then, both NASA and ISRO tried to locate the debris of the lander but due to unfavorable lighting conditions, they weren't able to do so. At last, ISRO with the help of a volunteer Shanmuga Subramanian (Chennai), was able to locate the debris from the images released by NASA.
The Failure Analysis Committee on November 16, 2019, concluded that the crash occurred due to a software glitch. The problem occurred in the second phase of the descent, in which, the reduction in the velocity was more than expected leading to deviation in the path of the lander. Even then, the lander had managed to crash near the landing area. The complete findings of the mission have not been made public.
Can this mission be called a complete failure?
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| The lunar orbiter is still functioning well! |
Although, some people have called this mission a complete failure most of the Indian people don't think so. They have total faith in ISRO. They are actually right. Chandrayaan 2 only failed in the landing of the Vikram Lander but the orbiter is still alive and has started sending useful data to ISRO. Remember how successful was the Chandrayaan 1 orbiter?
Thus Chandrayaan 2 isn't a complete failure. And, to get its revenge, ISRO has a new surprise waiting to land on the moon!
Chandrayaan 3: The Next Frontier
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| Chandrayaan 3 (Source: 24hournews) |
In the wake of the upcoming Lunar Polar Exploration Mission with Japanese Space Agency JAXA, ISRO will try to re-attempt the landing on the Moon with its Chandrayaan 3 mission. This mission is proposed to launch in Q2 2021. Chandrayaan 3 would only consist of a lander and a rover (similar to that of Chandrayaan 2) but no orbiter.
The mission would cost around $86 million to ISRO. In December 2019, ISRO requested the initial funding of the project of $11 million.
The next lunar mission of ISRO is with the Japanese Space Agency, JAXA, in which JAXA would provide the launch vehicle and the rover, while ISRO would provide the lander.
The mission would cost around $86 million to ISRO. In December 2019, ISRO requested the initial funding of the project of $11 million.
The next lunar mission of ISRO is with the Japanese Space Agency, JAXA, in which JAXA would provide the launch vehicle and the rover, while ISRO would provide the lander.
Some lunar images taken by Chandrayaan 2:
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Thanks for reading!!!
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