What Happened to Chandrayaan 2 Landing on Moon? Chandrayaan-2, a follow-on mission to the Chandrayaan-1 mission undertaken more than a decade ago, comprises an orbiter, lander (Vikram) and rover (Pragyan). The orbiter carries eight scientific payloads for mapping the lunar surface and study the exosphere (outer atmosphere) of the Moon. ISRO successfully carried out the separation of lander Vikram (with rover Pragyan housed inside) from the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter on September .
What Happened to Chandrayaan 2 Landing on Moon?
About Vikram Lander:
The lander, named Vikram, has a mass of 1471 kg (including the rover), and can generate 650 W of solar power. The lander can communicate directly to the Indian Deep Space Network, the orbiter, and the rover. The lander will carry a camera, seismometer, thermal profiler, Langmuir probe, and a NASA-supplied laser retroreflector.
About Pragyan:
The rover, Pragyan (also Pragyaan), is a 6-wheeled vehicle with a mass of 27 kg that runs on 50 W of solar power and can travel up to 500 m at a speed of 1 cm per second. The rover communicates directly with the lander. the rover will hold cameras, alpha-proton X-ray spectrometer, and a laser-induced ablation spectroscopy experiment.
Team of Chandrayaan 2:
Chandrayaan-2 is led by MuthayyaVanitha and RituKaridhal, the project director and mission director, respectively. Vanitha has been with the ISRO for 32 years while Karidhal has worked there for 22. Both women have expertise in engineering and were fundamental to the planning and execution of this mission. Thirty percent of the team working on the project are women.
Timeline of Chandrayaan 2 From the Start till the landing:
- June 12: ISRO Chairman K Sivan announces India’s second sojourn to the moon, Chandrayaan-2, would be launched on July 15.
- June 29: Rover after completion of all tests integrated with lander Vikram.
- June 29: Vikram lander (assembled with Pragyan Rover) integrated with Orbiter.
- July 4: Integration of encapsulated assembly of Chandrayaan-2 with launch vehicle (GSLV MkIII-M1) completed.
- July 7: GSLV MkIII-M1 moved to launch pad.
- July 14: Countdown for GSLV MkIII-M1/Chandrayaan-2 launch on July 15 commences.
- July 15: ISRO calls off Chandrayaan-2 launch as a technical snag is observed in launch vehicle system about one hour before blast-off.
- July 18: Chandrayaan-2 launch rescheduled for July 22, at 2.43 pm from second launch pad of SDSC, Sriharikota.
- July 21: Countdown for GSLV MkIII-M1/Chandrayaan-2 launch on July 22 commences.
- July 22: GSLV MkIII-M1 successfully launches Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft.
- July 24: First earth bound orbit raising manoeuvre for Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft was performed successfully.
- July 26: Second earth bound manoeuvre performed.
- July 29: Third earth bound manoeuvre performed.
- August 2: Fourth earth bound manoeuvre performed.
- August 4: ISRO releases first set of images of the Earth captured by Chandrayaan-2 satellite.
- August 6: Fifth earth bound manoeuvre performed.
- August 14: Chandrayaan-2 successfully enters Lunar Transfer Trajectory.
- August 20: Lunar Orbit Insertion. Chandrayaan-2 successfully inserted into Lunar orbit.
- August 21: Second lunar orbit manoeuvre performed.
- August 22: First set of pictures of Moon taken by Chandrayaan-2’s LI4 Camera from an altitude of about 2,650 km from the lunar surface released by ISRO.
- August 26: ISRO releases second set of images of lunar surface captured by Terrain Mapping Camera-2 (TMC-2) of Chandrayaan 2.
- August 28: Third lunar bound orbit manoeuvre performed.
- August 30: Fourth lunar orbit manoeuvre performed.
- September 1: Fifth and final lunar orbit manoeuvre performed.
- September 2: Vikram lander successfully separates from Orbiter.
- September 3: First de-orbiting manoeuvre performed to bring Vikram closer to moon.
- September 4: Second de-orbiting manoeuvre performed.
- September 7: Vikram lander begins its powered descent, normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km, but loses contact with ground stations minutes before the crucial touchdown on the lunar surface.
An older mission by China landed in the northernmost part, followed by Russia’s Luna missions. Most of the American lunar landings, including Apollo missions, were in the Moon’s equatorial region. China currently has a rover on the dark side of the Moon.
A successful landing would have made India the fourth country after the US, Russia and China to accomplish a soft landing on the Moon.
Conclusion:
Even though the status of Vikram India’s moon lander is not known – whether it crash-landed or the communication link got cut – all is not lost as far as the ₹978 crore Chandrayaan-2 mission is concerned.
In a last stage snag, the communication link between the moon lander and the orbiter got snapped as the former was descending towards the moon’s South Pole early on Saturday, throwing suspense over the mission’s fate.
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