[ad_1]
India is looking to take a giant technological leap with a second unmanned mission on the moon, aiming to land a rover near the unexplored South Pole.
The arrival of Chandrayaan-2 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh State, southern India, is planned at 2:51 am local time Monday (21:21 GMT, Sunday).
A successful launch will be the first of many tedious steps that, if successful, place India in a small group of countries with space capabilities.
Chandrayaan-2 is a multi-stage lunar mission in which the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) plans to place a spacecraft in lunar orbit 22 days after its launch.
Nearly a month after that, on September 6 or 7, a landing craft with a rover should separate from the orbiter and attempt a controlled descent to land on the surface of the South Pole.
The ISRO is currently trying what is called a "soft landing", a feat achieved until now by the former Soviet Union, the United States and China.
As India is on the verge of becoming the world's fifth largest economy, its space ambitions are also commercial.
"This will foster a new era of discovery, increase our understanding of space, encourage more global alliances, spur technology progress, increase business opportunities in India and inspire future generations," said President ISRO, Kailasavadivoo Sivan.
What role does the industrial partnership play in the progress of space research? Listen to the message from ISRO President, K Sivan, to find out! https://t.co/5SxaKb5PLw # Chandrayaan2 #GSLVMkIII #ISRO pic.twitter.com/X1mugKM3Vn
– ISRO (@isro) July 14, 2019
Price tag in economy class
As a technological exploit apart, India's space program also seeks to prove its cost competitiveness.
Chandrayaan-2 economy price of $ 141 million covers rockets, orbiters, landing gear, rovers and scientific payloads – $ 9 million less than SpaceX charges for Falcon launch services Heavy that simply take and deposit payloads into the low Earth orbit.
In her speech to Parliament on July 5, a few weeks after her swearing in, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the creation of a new public sector company: New Space India Ltd.
She said ISRO 's ambitions to reach the moon and beyond are part of the government' s plan to create a $ 5 trillion national economy by 2025.
"New Space India Limited has been incorporated as a new commercial branch of the Space Department to leverage the benefits of ISRO-led research and development." The company will spearhead the marketing of various space products, including launcher production, technology transfer and marketing of space products, "she said.
While the Indian space industry generates $ 7 billion in revenue, Morgan Stanley estimates that global space revenues currently set at $ 350 billion will increase to $ 1.1 trillion by 2040.
ISRO President, Sivan, said 500 universities and 120 Indian companies had participated in the development and management of various scientific and engineering programs in order to prepare Chandrayaan-2 for launch.
"The private sector shared 80% of the expenses and 60% of the work of the module," he said. "This mission is not only the project of ISRO, the country's scientific community and the private sector have also been involved."
Lunar vehicle
The launch of the lunar mission follows the successful launch of Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 by ISRO, which placed a spacecraft in orbit around the moon and then launched a lunar impactor.
The ISRO deliberately sent the 35 kg moon impact probe for the specific purpose of pushing it into the moon 's surface in order to analyze the particles displaced by the l'. accident.
It's at this point that ISRO, on board the orbiter, has discovered water molecules on the moon, with the help of the Moon's Minerology Mapmaker. The NASA.
If the Vikram Chandrayaan-2 Lander (named after Vikram Sarabhai, founder of the Indian Space Program) touches the ground safely, he will lower a ramp and release his main payload, the Pragyan rover.
In Sanskrit, Pragyan means "wisdom" while Chandrayaan translates as "a lunar vehicle". The LG Vikram will also carry three scientific instruments to study the seismic activity, the ability of the surface to absorb and retain heat, and the ionosphere of the moon.
The Pragyan mobile instrumentation will study the building blocks of the lunar surface, mainly the constituent elements of water.
Once on the south pole of the moon, the lander and the rover will be powered by the sun, which means that their mission will last a lunar day. It means almost 15 days of science and data collection before the sun sets on the moon.
The orbiter has been equipped with a variety of technologies to collect data on the composition of the surface and the atmosphere of the moon. It will also map the ground to be surveyed where water is in the form of ice.
[ad_2]
Source link