All you should know about Chandrayaan 2 mission

All you should know about Chandrayaan 2 mission

ISRO (Indian space research organisation) naam to suna hi hoga is once again going to make India proud like it did in 2013 by launching Mangalyaan and in 2008 by launching Chandrayaan I, now on 15 July 2019 ISRO is going to launch Chandrayaan 2. In Chandryaan 1, ISRO launched an orbiter which orbited the moon and collected valuable information about lunar surface and it was our Chandrayaan1 which traced the availability of water on the surface of the moon. But in Chandrayaan2 ISRO will launch orbiter which will revolve around the moon, Lander which will help rover to safely land on the surface of the moon and rover which will conduct various experiments on the lunar surface.

What makes Chandrayaan 2 special

1^st space mission to do soft landing on the south pole of the moon

1^st Indian expedition to attempt a soft landing on lunar surface with indigenous technology

1^st Indian expedition to explore the lunar terrain with home grown technology

4^th ever country to do soft landing on lunar surface

Objective

The primary objective of Chandrayaan-2 is to demonstrate the ability to soft-land on the lunar surface and operate a robotic rover on the surface. Scientific goals include studies of lunar topography, mineralogy, elemental abundance, the lunar exosphere, and signatures of hydroxyl and water ice. India will be the first country to explore the south pole of moon.

Launch details

Launch vehicle: GSLV MARK III

Launch site: Sriharikota

Mass: 3850kg

Nominal power: 1000 w

Launch vehicle

The GSLV Mk-III is India's most powerful launcher to date, and has been completely designed and      fabricated        from     within   the       country.
GSLV Mk III is a three-stage heavy lift launch vehicle developed by ISRO. The vehicle has two solid strap-ons, a core liquid booster and a cryogenic upper stage.

GSLV Mk III is designed to carry 4 ton class of satellites into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) or about 10 tons to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), which is about twice the capability of GSLV Mk II.

Orbiter

The Orbiter will observe the lunar surface and relay communication between Earth and Chandrayaan-2’s lander        Vikram.

Chandrayan 2 landing probe

The landing probe is named as Vikram. The Chandrayaan 2 will orbit around the moon and perform the objectives of remote sensing the moon. The payloads will collect scientific information on lunar topography, mineralogy, elemental abundance, lunar exosphere and signatures of hydroxyl and water-ice. After reaching the 100 km lunar orbit, the Lander housing the Rover will separate from the Orbiter. After a controlled descent, the Lander will soft land on the lunar surface at a specified site and deploy a Rover. The mission will carry a six-wheeled Rover which will move around the landing site in semi-autonomous mode as decided by the ground commands. The instruments on the rover will observe the lunar surface and send back data, which will be useful for analysis of the lunar soil.

Rover

The mission's rover is called Pragyaan . The rover's mass is about 27 kg (60 lb) and will operate on solar power. The rover will move on 6 wheels traversing 500 meters on the lunar surface at the rate of 1 cm per second, performing on-site chemical analysis and sending the data to the lander, which will relay it to the Earth station. For navigation, the rover uses:

·        Stereoscopic camera-based 3D vision: two 1 megapixel, monochromatic NAVCAMs in front of the rover will provide the ground control team a 3D view of the surrounding terrain, and help in path-planning by generating a digital elevation model of the terrain. IIT Kanpur contributed to the development of the subsystems for light-based map generation and motion planning for the rover.

·        Control and motor dynamics: the rover has a rocker-bogie suspension system and six wheels, each driven by independent brushless DC electric motors. Steering is accomplished by differential speed of the wheels or skid steering.

The expected operating time of Pragyaan rover is one lunar day or around 14 Earth days but its power system has a solar-powered sleep/wake-up cycle implemented, which could result in longer service time than planned.

More details about the mission

For more details you can visit the official site of ISRO https://www.isro.gov.in/chandrayaan2-home-0

Live telecast

You can watch live launch of Chandrayaan 2 through the given link.

Watch Live Launch of GSLV MkIII-M1/Chandrayaan2 on July 15, 2019 from 02:30 hrs IST onwards - ISRO