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Ten years ago, on October 22, 2008, the Indian Space Research Organization (Indian Space Research Organization) launched Chandrayaan-1, India's first planetary probe on the moon. In a few weeks, the successor to the mission – Chandrayaan-2 – should do the same after many unexpected delays in its launch date, according to a report published in in the Times of India ]. 19659002] Chandrayaan-1 was India's first planetary mission to the moon and carried out various experiments, both Indian and international, on the lunar orbit. The spacecraft collected a lot of important data about its mission in orbit and studied the chemistry, geology and mineral composition of the Moon for nearly a year.
The Discoveries of Chandrayaan-1
Among his many results were direct evidence of water on the moon. Data from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper on Chandrayaan-1 were crucial in allowing the results to directly prove that the moon does have water on its surface. These deposits were discovered as concentrated ice-water near the polar regions of the moon.
A second Chandrayaan-1 instrument, Synthetic Aperture Radar (Mini-SAR), also found ice-water deposits in craters on the far side of the moon. This has been a blind spot for past lunar missions as well as for Earth observations, as it is not well studied, but is also inaccessible to satellite signals for communication with mission controllers on Earth.
A third instrument, Chandrayaan-1 Indian Moon Probe (MIP) probe collected water signatures in the lunar exosphere.
Finally, the discovery that made headlines around the world was the first "direct evidence" of the presence of water in the lunar atmosphere just above the surface of the moon, collected by altitudinal composition instrument. of Chandra (CHACE) during the descent of the probe on the moon.
These discoveries are largely due to the fact that the probe instruments were designed to detect even traces of water – in the form of hydroxyl ions (OH) more familiar form of the water molecule (H20 ). This indicated that solar radiation rapidly spilled water into hydrogen ions, which escaped from the atmosphere, and hydroxyl ions, which remained as traces of water. .
Image of representation. Image courtesy of: ISRO
The Scientific Missions of Chandrayaan-2
The unmanned Chandrayaan-1 mission is planned: a crore of 800 Rs Chandrayaan-2 without mission, scheduled for January 3, 2019..
This comes about ten years after ISRO's first mission to the moon, but carries a rover and a lander unlike Chandrayaan-1.
The 3,890 kg Chandrayaan spacecraft will be launched aboard the geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle. (GSLV) Mk-3. The Lander will land on the lunar surface and unload the Rover to study and take measurements on the surface while the orbiter continues to surround the natural satellite.
The lander and the rover on Chandrayaan-2 landing at a site located 600 km from the lunar south pole. If successful, it would be the first time that a lunar mission would land as far away from the equator, according to a report of Science .
The rover – weighing only 25 kilograms and up or less The size of a briefcase will carry two instruments that will study the elemental composition of the lunar surface: a laser-induced decomposition spectroscope (LIBS) and a spectrometer to alpha particle X-ray (APXS).
The Chandrayaan Rover-2 during a mobility test. Image Courtesy: ISRO
The Probe also features an instrument for measuring the moon's plasma – a layer of charged molecules above the moon's surface that could explain why the regolith lunar, the dusty material covering the surface of the moon, floats above the surface for long periods of time. Chandrayaan-2 will also carry a seismometer to record the earthquakes on the moon, following the efforts of Apollo 11 to study the phenomenon, a report in of Hindu says ,
. ] The mission will also provide a map of the moon topology, which could add many new discoveries to the existing data due to its unique landing site choice.
The hopes and the challenges that run through the mission [19659002] The launching of Chandrayaan-2 was initialed for the second half of 2018.
The plans of the investigation which was to fall short of time after the violation of the orbit have been changed to a more circular approach, where According to a report Economic Times
the probe would circle the Moon before touching the ground. It can be said that it is Chandrayaan-3 because the project has been completely reconfigured, "Sivan says ." If we went with the previous configuration it would have been a disaster. They had not thought of so many problems that are being corrected. "
Image of representation. AFP
On the basis of the new landing profile, the mission is experiencing new changes and new problems, mission engineers working overtime to meet the imminent deadline of January 2019. [19659004] With the entire scientific mission aboard Chandrayaan-2, a successful landing near the South Pole would in itself be a remarkable feat for ISRO as well as for space exploration, experts said .
"One of NASA's top priorities is to continue [to the south pole] in an example of a return mission," James Greenwood, cosmochemist of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut told [19659032Science.
"So that could help us later, on the road, as they give us more information about what is there."
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