Essay on Chandrayaan
This article gives detailed information on the launch of Chandrayaan 1 and Chandrayaan 2. This article can help the students to prepare articles on Chandrayaan. In this article, we have tried to gather complete information related to Chandrayaan. 1 and Chandrayaan 2, hope that this information will prove beneficial for you.
Detailed information on the launch of Chandrayaan 1
Chandrayaan 1 was India’s first spacecraft to travel to the Moon under the Lunar Exploration Program of the Indian Space Research Organisation. Although the name of this vehicle was only Chandrayaan, but due to the name of the next vehicle in this series, Chandrayaan-2, this campaign came to be called Chandrayaan-1.
Chandrayaan 1 was launched on 22 October 2008 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota and remained active till 30 October 2009. It used the indigenously developed Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-XL) rocket. Chandrayaan 1 was based on an Indian meteorological satellite by the name of KalpanaSat. It took 5 days to reach the Moon, but it took 15 days to establish it in the Moon’s orbit.
The spacecraft successfully entered lunar orbit on 8 November 2008 and continued its moon impact test six days later. The objective of Chandrayaan was to find detailed maps of the lunar surface and trace elements of water and helium.
It was supposed to have a tenure of about 2 years, but it was closed before that due to loss of communication with the control room. With Chandrayaan, India became the sixth country to send a mission to the moon. This venture opened the way for sending aircraft including man to the Moon and Mars.
Hovering just 100 km above the Moon’s surface, Chandrayaan 1 took several high-resolution images of the Moon’s topography. It also performed mineralogical mapping and scoured the surface for any radioactive elements.
One of the major achievements of the mission was the discovery of a large number of water molecules present in the lunar soil. The mission cost only $56 million and gave us important information about the surface of the Moon.
Specific areas of study by Chandrayaan 1
i) Mineral and chemical imaging of permanently shadowed north-polar and south-polar regions.
ii) The search for surface or sub-surface lunar water-ice, especially at the lunar poles.
iii) Identification of chemicals in rocks.
iv) Chemical classification of the crust by remote sensing and South Pole Aitken field (SPAR), imaging of
the internal contents.
v) Mapping the variation in the height of the lunar surface.
vi) Observation of most of the stereographic coverage of the lunar surface with X-ray spectrum greater than 10 keV and 5 m (16 ft) resolution.
vii) To provide new insights into understanding the origin and evolution of the Moon.
The greatest achievement of the century by Chandrayaan 1
Indian Space Research Organization [ISRO] claimed that water on the moon is India’s discovery. The presence of water on the Moon was detected by India’s own Moon Impact Probe (MIP) aboard Chandrayaan-1.
US space agency NASA’s instrument has also confirmed the presence of water on the moon. Chandrayaan-1 has made an important discovery of this century by detecting the presence of water on the moon.
According to ISRO, water on the moon is not present in the form of seas, springs, ponds or droplets but on the surface of minerals and rocks. The presence of water on the Moon is much more than previously estimated.
Detailed information on the launch of Chandrayaan 2
Chandrayaan-2 or second Chandrayaan is India’s second lunar exploration mission after Chandrayaan-1, developed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The mission consists of a lunar orbiter, a rover and a lander built in India.
All these have been developed by ISRO. Chandrayaan 2 was launched on 22 July from the same launch pad from where Chandrayaan 1 took off. Instead of using the older PSLV rocket used earlier, the spacecraft used the Advanced Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk III).
Unlike last time, ISRO refused to carry any foreign payload due to weight restrictions. But in June 2019, it agreed to carry a small laser retroreflector from NASA.
However, the orbiter will hover over the Moon at a distance of 100 km and perform passive experiments as it did on Chandrayaan 1. The cost of the entire Chandrayaan 2 mission is around $141 million. This is less than every installment in the Marvel Avenger series. Unlike Chandrayaan 1, the stakes are much higher this time as the spacecraft is also carrying a lunar rover, orbiter and lander.
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In addition, Chandrayaan 2 is the first in the country to use self-made components and designed vehicles.
However, at around 1:52 pm IST, the lander deviated from its intended path by about 2.1 km from landing and ground control lost communication with the spacecraft. On 8 September 2019, it was reported by ISRO that the Vikram lander has been detected from the thermograph taken by the orbiter. But Vikram Lander has not been contacted yet.
Orbiter, Lander and Rover Key Details
The orbiter will orbit the moon at an altitude of 100 km. In this mission, it has been decided to send the orbiter with five payloads. Three payloads are new, while the other two are improved versions of the payloads to be sent on the Chandrayaan-1 orbiter. Its weight at the time of flight was about 1400 kg. The Orbiter High Resolution Camera will provide high resolution images of the landing site before the lander separates from the orbiter. The orbiter has a mission life of one year and is placed in a 100 X 100 km long lunar polar orbit.
Chandrayaan 2’s lander is named after the father of Indian space programme, Dr Vikram A Sarabhai. It is designed to function for one lunar day, which is roughly equivalent to 14 Earth days. Mr Vikram has the capability to communicate with the IDSN as well as the orbiter and rover at Byalalu, near Bangalore.
But due to the loss of contact with the lander, the work of the lander (Vikram) and the rover (Pragyan) seems impossible.
The rover weighs 27kg and will be powered by solar power, with electric power generation capacity- 50W. Chandrayaan 2’s rover is a 6-wheeled robotic vehicle named Pragyan, which translates to ‘knowledge’ in Sanskrit. It can travel up to 500 meters (½km) and takes advantage of solar power for its functioning. It can only communicate with the lander. The rover will move on the Moon’s surface with wheels, collect soil and rock samples, chemically analyze them, and send the data up to the orbiter from where it will be sent to Earth’s station.
However, due to lack of contact with the lander, the rover has not been able to come out of the lander and if there is no contact with the lander, then the rover will not be able to do its work and important information related to the moon will not reach us.
Features of Chandrayaan 2
i) The first space mission to conduct a soft landing on the south polar region of the Moon.
ii) The first Indian mission to attempt a soft landing on the lunar surface with in-house technology.
iii) The first Indian mission, which will attempt to explore the lunar region with in-house technology.
iv) 4th country which will make a soft landing on the surface of the moon.
Although due to the loss of contact with Vikram, it seems impossible for all these subjects to succeed, but the scientists of ISRO and NASA are constantly trying to establish contact with Vikram. If contact is made with Vikram, then it will be a golden achievement for India and even if contact with Vikram is not known, India’s Chandrayaan 2 mission will be considered successful 90 to 95 percent.
Chandrayaan 2 current status
Chandrayaan-2 was planned to be launched by ISRO at 2:51 am Indian time on July 15, 2019, which was canceled due to some technical fault, so its time was changed to 22 July 02:43 PM. was given, as a result of which this vehicle was successfully launched on the scheduled time.
On 07 September 2019 at 02 PM, Vikram Lander’s contact with ISRO has been lost at 02.1 km above the surface of the Moon. The lander is being contacted again. Indian Space Research Center (ISRO) Chairman K Sivan said, ‘Vikram lander descended normally to an altitude of 02.1 km from the surface of the Moon.
After this the contact of the lander with the earth was lost. The data is being analyzed. On September, ISRO’s chairperson, Dr. K. Sivan, announced that the lander has been observed on the lunar surface with the help of a thermal image of the orbiter, and that the orbiter and other agencies are trying to have a soft communication with the lander. can be installed. Keep reading
