The Indian rendezvous with Moon: 10 years and two missions | India News

BENGALURU: In a few weeks, India will send its second probe on the Moon – Chandrayaan-2 – for lunar studies with an orbiter equipped with a wider range spectrometer up to 5 microns in order to provide clear the signature of the water. As important as the Chandrayaan-2 payload is, the project also provides for a Lander, now named Vikram in honor of the father of the Indian space program Vikram Sarabhai, is the first attempt of the Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) to study the moon. Chandrayaan-1.

October 22 marks the 10th anniversary of Chandrayaan-1, the results of which have finally earned the mission three international awards and its discoveries are still being studied by researchers around the world. Missions like Clementine, Lunar Prospector, SMART-1, Kaguya (Japan), Chang'e Missions and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and others are a flagship project.

Barely two months later, Chandrayaan-1 by researchers in the United States gave new credit to his original discoveries on water. And Isro now says that the map provided by Chandrayaan-2 from his experience should allow to draw the strongest conclusions about the distribution of water on the surface of the Moon. "The two-frequency SAR experiment on Chandrayaan-2 will further refine the sensitivity to groundwater. In addition to a mbad spectrometer capable of studying the exosphere for longer durations, Chandrayaan-2 truly has a unique opportunity to provide major breakthroughs on the important topic of water on the planet. Moon. "

But all this confidence comes from the success of the first mission, which deserves to be remembered. Here is what happened:

On 22 October 2008 at 0622, the PSLV carrying Chandrayaan-1 roared, paving the way for India's future exploration efforts. And on November 8 of the same year, Chandrayaan-1 reached the polar orbit around the moon.

million. Annadurai, dubbed the Moon-man of India, recalls: "On November 14th, in the presence of Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam, we ordered a tiny Moon Impact Probe (MIP) probe to detach from the mother craft that was aimed at to hit the moon after 27 minutes of flying in the lunar atmosphere. During the descent to the lunar surface, one of the scientific equipment aboard the MIP, namely CHACE – a mbad spectrometer – began to indicate the presence of water (vapor) in the atmosphere of the moon. "

The signal intensifies as the probe approaches the moon's surface. The presence of water near the moon was considered as coming from the lunar surface. Thus, the remaining instruments aboard the Chandrayaan-1 mother ship have been programmed to search for the presence of water on the lunar surface.

The search covered the entire surface of the moon. As a result, Chandrayaan-1 paved the way for the creation of Lunar Map with water resources (see photo). "The discovery of ice on the moon's poles is also attributed to Chandrayaan-1. When another group of international scientists used Chandrayaan-1's data for its research, the statement was again confirmed, "said Annadurai.

Chandrayaan-1 has received three international awards, one for the discovery of water on the moon, spacecraft design and compact housing of 11 scientific instruments and the very high level international cooperation that has paved the way for a new wave of global exploration. .