CHANDRAYAAN 2 : Aimed for the Moon, reached the stars
‘Things not coming through is part of any research and development activity’,said Rakesh Sharma, India's first man in Space.Perhaps the most abiding image of the recent saga of the Chandrayaan-2 mission,was that of the Prime Minister embracing and consoling the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Dr K.Sivan. That single act said eloquently what words could not have expressed adequately: that though the mission could not achieve one of its prime objectives, it had notched up a series of outstanding successes along the way for which the entire nation is proud. India's most riveted Moon exploration mission had not just India's but the World's expectations tied to it. Chandrayaan-2, a mission like no other leveraged nearly a decade of scientific research and engineering development. It was a lunar expedition to the unchartered South pole region of the Moon.
India’s GSLV MkIII-M1 (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) successfully launched Chandrayaan-2 at 2:43 p.m. IST on July 22,2019 from the Second Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. The craft reached the Moon's orbit on 20 August 2019 and began orbit positioning manoeuvres for the landing of Vikram lander. The lander and the rover were scheduled to land in the south polar region on 7 September 2019 for one lunar day, which approximates 2 Earth weeks. However, the lander deviated from its intended trajectory at 2.1 kilometres altitude. Vikram had developed a problem, had gone silent and crashed at the fag end of a perfect journey,along with the stilborn Pragyan rover.To put it in perspective, there have been 38 attempts so far by other countries to land a rover on the Moon and have succeeded only a little more than half the time. This April, Israel’s Beresheet lunar lander crashed to the lunar surface. But early January this year, China’s Chang’e-4 touched down on the lunar far side and deployed the Yutu-2 rover to explore the Moon's South Pole region.
The shoe-string Budget of Chandrayaan-2 (Rs 1000 Crore) is another big path-breaker for a mission which was already booked for complex manoeuvres at each stage.The ISRO has done a commendable job in achieving success in two of the three phases. It has achieved efficiencies in each phase. The best example of this is that the orbiter is safe in the intended orbit around the moon.And its life span will extend to almost seven years. The orbiter will spend these years making high-resolution maps of the lunar surface, mapping the minerals, understanding the moon’s evolution, and most importantly looking for water molecules in the South polar regions. With the U.S. wanting to send astronauts to the South Pole by 2024, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in particular, will be keen on data from the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter. India’s hopes and aspirations seem to be held high,witnessing how ISRO’s missions to the Moon and Mars have been so far. It seems Space Exploration might perhaps become an Indian passion, something all Indians can agree with and are proud of. Failure of one mission, on this journey, could also be seen as a giant learning step.
It was the indomitable spirit to take India to the top in the comity of Space explorations which made the scientists work relentlessly for over a decade for the success of this mission. And a single impediment cannot jolt the spirits of diligent scientists on their path to success. With each passing day, it is becoming less and less probable to establish contact with Vikram, with the 14 day exploration period nearing to end by the 21st of September 2019. However,the orbiter gliding 100 km above continues to bear the Chandrayaan-2 torch, beaming back pictures of the moon.
‘Things not coming through is part of any research and development activity’,said Rakesh Sharma, India's first man in Space.Perhaps the most abiding image of the recent saga of the Chandrayaan-2 mission,was that of the Prime Minister embracing and consoling the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Dr K.Sivan. That single act said eloquently what words could not have expressed adequately: that though the mission could not achieve one of its prime objectives, it had notched up a series of outstanding successes along the way for which the entire nation is proud. India's most riveted Moon exploration mission had not just India's but the World's expectations tied to it. Chandrayaan-2, a mission like no other leveraged nearly a decade of scientific research and engineering development. It was a lunar expedition to the unchartered South pole region of the Moon.
India’s GSLV MkIII-M1 (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) successfully launched Chandrayaan-2 at 2:43 p.m. IST on July 22,2019 from the Second Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. The craft reached the Moon's orbit on 20 August 2019 and began orbit positioning manoeuvres for the landing of Vikram lander. The lander and the rover were scheduled to land in the south polar region on 7 September 2019 for one lunar day, which approximates 2 Earth weeks. However, the lander deviated from its intended trajectory at 2.1 kilometres altitude. Vikram had developed a problem, had gone silent and crashed at the fag end of a perfect journey,along with the stilborn Pragyan rover.To put it in perspective, there have been 38 attempts so far by other countries to land a rover on the Moon and have succeeded only a little more than half the time. This April, Israel’s Beresheet lunar lander crashed to the lunar surface. But early January this year, China’s Chang’e-4 touched down on the lunar far side and deployed the Yutu-2 rover to explore the Moon's South Pole region.
The shoe-string Budget of Chandrayaan-2 (Rs 1000 Crore) is another big path-breaker for a mission which was already booked for complex manoeuvres at each stage.The ISRO has done a commendable job in achieving success in two of the three phases. It has achieved efficiencies in each phase. The best example of this is that the orbiter is safe in the intended orbit around the moon.And its life span will extend to almost seven years. The orbiter will spend these years making high-resolution maps of the lunar surface, mapping the minerals, understanding the moon’s evolution, and most importantly looking for water molecules in the South polar regions. With the U.S. wanting to send astronauts to the South Pole by 2024, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in particular, will be keen on data from the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter. India’s hopes and aspirations seem to be held high,witnessing how ISRO’s missions to the Moon and Mars have been so far. It seems Space Exploration might perhaps become an Indian passion, something all Indians can agree with and are proud of. Failure of one mission, on this journey, could also be seen as a giant learning step.
It was the indomitable spirit to take India to the top in the comity of Space explorations which made the scientists work relentlessly for over a decade for the success of this mission. And a single impediment cannot jolt the spirits of diligent scientists on their path to success. With each passing day, it is becoming less and less probable to establish contact with Vikram, with the 14 day exploration period nearing to end by the 21st of September 2019. However,the orbiter gliding 100 km above continues to bear the Chandrayaan-2 torch, beaming back pictures of the moon.
Comments
Post a Comment