ISRO successfully launched Chandrayaan – 2
In its very first operational flight, India’s most powerful rocket, Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) – MkIII-M1 launched the Chandrayaan -2 into an earth orbit. The 3840 kg lunar satellite is successfully injected into an earth orbit on July 22, 2019.
Chandrayaan -2 is the sequel to India’s first moon mission Chandrayaan -1, launched on October 22, 2008, which carried 11 scientific instruments not only built-in India even in other countries like USA, UK, Germany, Sweden and Bulgaria. The Chandrayaan-1 mission operated only 312 days in mission life 2 years but this mission achieved 95 % planned objectives and reveal the secret of water on the moon surface or lunar water. Now ISRO is going to set another milestone in the space race by landing its spacecraft on the south pole of the Moon.
This spacecraft carries an indigenous lunar orbiter, lander – Vikram and rover – Pragyan. The lander especially designs to examine the moon-quarks, the orbiter consists of eight scientific instruments to examine the atmosphere and lunar surface and the rover will find out the thermal properties of the lunar surface.
“Today is the beginning of the historical journey of India towards Moon and to land at a place near South Pole to carry out scientific experiments to explore the unexplored. On July 15, 2019 ISRO intelligently observed a technical snag, Team ISRO worked out, fixed and corrected the snag within 24 hours. For the next one and a half-day, the required tests were conducted to ensure that corrections made were proper and in right direction. Today ISRO bounced back with flying colours.”
Dr K Sivan, ISRO Chairman
Chandrayaan – 2’s Vikram lander is to be soft-land likely on September 7, 2019, on the south pole of the Moon’s surface, making India, the first country to explore the south pole of the Moon.
Written by Kartikay Shukla
He is a PhD scholar in Science and Technology Communication in National Institute of Science Communication and Policy Research (erstwhile CSIR-NISCAIR) one of the prestigious labs of CSIR in India. He is trained in popularizing science through writing, graphic designing and outreach programs. Currently, he is associated with an NGO name Search for Truth and Return to Science as a volunteer. He did his Master of Science in Science and Technology Communication from CSIR- National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (NISCAIR), New Delhi and he completed his Bachelor of Science in Physics, Computer Science and Mathematics from Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar Uttarakhand.
Twitter