essay on chandrayan 2 english
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Chandrayaan – 2 is the second lunar mission of India after the success of Chandrayaan 1. This mission was conducted for topographical researches and mineralogical studies to have a better understanding of the Moon’s origin and evolution. Chandrayaan 2 Mission was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space on July 22, 2019, by GSLV Mk III. The main aim of Chandrayaan 2 was to trace the location and abundance of lunar water on the moon’s surface.
Highlights of Chandrayaan 2
Chandrayaan 2 fostered the findings of Chandrayaan 1 as reported by the ISRO.
The mission targeted the “South Polar region” of the Moon which was completely unexplored.
The mission focused on the extensive mapping of the lunar surface for studying variations in its composition and tracing the Moon’s origin and evolution.
Chandrayaan 2 was considered as a challenging mission as the South Polar Region of the Moon was totally unexplored by any space agency before.
Components of Chandrayaan 2
S200 solid rocket booster
L110 liquid state
C25 Upper stage
The Chandrayaan 2 consisted of three modules:
lunar orbiter
Vikram lander (named after Vikram Sarabhai, the late father of India’s space program)
lunar rover named Pragyan
All of the above parts were developed in India.
Chandrayaan Mission 2 - Image 1
The orbiter, lander and rover collectively carried 14 scientific payloads, including a Laser Retro Reflector Array from NASA that provided precise measurements of the distance between the Moon and the Earth. Chandrayaan-2’s orbiter shall continue its mission for around a year.
The Indian space programme form a part of the science and technology and current affairs segments of the UPSC syllabus and is an important topic for the UPSC exam. Aspirants can refer to the UPSC Mains Syllabus at the linked article.
Significance of Chandrayaan 2
In all the space missions, no country has ever attempted to land a spacecraft in the polar regions of the moon. This gave India a lead in space exploration on an international level.
Due to the moon’s axis, few regions on the South Pole always remains dark especially the craters and have higher chances of containing water.
The craters might have never received sunlight because it at very low angles in the Polar Regions and thus, increasing the chances of presence of ice on such surfaces.
The lunar surface area at the south pole of the Moon that remains in shadow is much larger than the North Pole thus making moon’s South Pole interesting. This also increases the probability of the existence of water in permanently shadowed areas around it.
Chandrayaan 2 was launched on July 22 from the same launch pad from which Chandrayaan 1 had taken off. Instead of using the outdated PSLV rocket used earlier, the spacecraft made use of the advanced Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk III).
The spacecraft is expected to land on the Moon's on September 7, 2019. According to NASA, the Moon's polar craters have the Solar System's lowest temperature. It will be the first probe in the world which will land on the lunar south pole. The main mission objective is the exploration of lunar water near the polar region.
Also, ISRO plans to test the capabilities of its lunar rover named Pragyan. Weighing 27kg, the rover operates on solar power and travels at a speed of 1cm per second. It will continuously perform chemical analysis of the soil and send back to the lander (named Vikram), which will update the ground station.
It is expected that the rover will operate for 14 days but the duration may vary since Pragyan uses solar power to keep itself up.
Unlike last time, ISRO declined to carry any foreign payloads due to weight restrictions. But in June 2019, it agreed to carry a small laser retroreflector from NASA. The orbiter will carry eight payloads, while the lander is carrying three and the rover just two.
However, the orbiter will be hovering over the moon at a distance of 100km and performing passive experiments just like it did on Chandrayaan 1.
Chandrayaan 2 has successfully entered space. That being said, the most critical part will be the auto soft-landing. If the spacecraft lands successfully on the Moon, India will be the fourth country to join the moon club after China, the United States and Russia.
The entire Chandrayaan 2 mission cost approximately $141 million. This is less than every instalment in the Marvel Avenger series.
Unlike Chandrayaan 1, the stakes are pretty high this time since the spacecraft is also carrying a lunar rover, orbiter and a lander. Moreover, Chandrayaan 2 is the country's first time using self-manufactured components and design vehicles.
The launch is significant for a number of reasons, including the fact that, for the first time in Indian history, a space mission is spearheaded by two women. Chandrayaan-2 is led by Muthayya Vanitha and Ritu Karidhal, the project director and mission director, respectively.
India's Space Technology at the Global level
Even if the mission ends up in failure, ISRO will have a lot to learn from its experiences, motivating it to do better in the future. India is the only country in the world which successfully completed its maiden interplanetary mission to Mars.
Mangalyaan was launched in 2013 and has completed almost four years in Mars' orbit. This was a proud moment in the history of the organization since no other space agency has been able to achieve this feat.
It also holds the world record for launching the most satellites in a single mission. Even though ISRO lacks the resources and money compared to what NASA gets, it is continually proving its dominance in the world with its innovative cost-effective solutions.
Currently, with a budget of $1.2 billion, ISRO is ranked at number 5 in the world while having almost a fraction of the budget when compared to other space agencies.
Orbiter, lander and rover of Chandrayaan 2
orbiter
Orbiter
The orbiter will orbit around the moon at a distance of 100 km. It has been sent with 5 payloads. Three of them are new while the other 2 are the ones that had been sent with Chandrayaan 1. At launch, the orbiter weighed 1400 kgs. The life span of the orbiter is 1 year.
Lander
The lander of Chandrayaan 2 has been named after Indian Space scientist Dr Vikram Sarabhai. It has been designed to work for one lunar day i.e about 14 earth days. Vikram can communicate with the orbiter, rover and the space center too.
Rover
The rover of Chandrayaan 2 weighs 27 kg and works with solar energy. It has been named ‘pragyaan’ which is the Sanskrit word for knowledge. It is a robot vehicle with 6 wheels and can travel upto 500 metres. It can communicate with the lander only. Its aim is to explore the surface of the moon, take samples of the soil and surface, do analysis and send data to the orbiter which will then relay it to the earth.
Success of Chandrayaan 2
The mission has achieved a 95% success with the placement of the orbiter in the moon's orbit. It will take images of the moon for one year and send the data to earth.
On 7 September 2019, the lander, Vikram tried to make a soft landing on the moon but when it was 2 kms away from the surface, the ISRO lost contant with Vikram. Many efforts have been made to restore communication but the efforts have not been fruitful. The rover has not been able to come out of the lander and thus, it can not gather important information related to the Moon. Due to this, the data that was supposed to be collected by Vikram and pragyaan cannot be collected.