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

BENGALURU: In a few weeks, India will send its second probe to the Moon – Chandrayaan-2 – for lunar studies with an orbiter equipped with a wider-range spectrometer of up to 5 microns in order to clearly provide 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.

Just two months later, Chandrayaan-1 by American researchers gave new credit to his discoveries on the 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 mass 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 October 22, 2008 at 6:22 am, the PSLV carrying Chandrayaan-1 roared in the air, paving the way for India's future exploration of the planet. And on November 8 of the same year, Chandrayaan-1 reached the polar orbit around the moon.

Mr. Annadurai, nicknamed the Moon-man of India, recalls: "On November 14, in the presence of Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam, we ordered a tiny Moon Impact Probe (MIP) to detach from the boat aiming to land on the moon. after 27 minutes of flight in the atmosphere of the moon. During the descent to the lunar surface, one of the scientific equipment aboard the MIP, namely CHACE – a mass spectrometer – began to indicate the presence of water (vapor) in the atmosphere of the moon. "

The signal then increased as the probe approached 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, the design of a spacecraft and the compact installation of 11 scientific instruments, as well as the very high level of international cooperation that opened the way to a new wave of planetary exploration.