Chandrayaan-2 launch on July 15

Bengaluru, June 12

India’s second mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-2, would be launched on July 15, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K Sivan announced on Wednesday.

The landing on the moon near the South Pole, an uncharted territory so far, would be on September 6 or 7, Sivan told reporters here, as the Indian space agency is all set to embark on its most complex mission. The launch would take place at 2.51 am on board the GSLV MK-III vehicle from the spaceport of Sriharikota.

ISRO had earlier kept the launch window for the mission from July 9 to 16. The spacecraft, with a mass of 3.8 tonne, has three modules — Orbiter, Lander (Vikram) and Rover (Pragyan). Sivan said Orbiter would have eight payloads, Lander three and Rover two.

The mission cost of Chandrayaan-2 with regard to the satellite was Rs 603 crore, he noted. The cost of GSLV MK III is Rs 375 crore.

According to ISRO, Orbiter, with scientific payloads, would orbit around the moon. Lander would soft land on the moon at a predetermined site and deploy Rover.

The scientific payloads on board Orbiter, Lander and Rover are expected to perform mineralogical and elemental studies of the lunar surface. The Orbiter and Lander modules would be interfaced mechanically and stacked together as an integrated module and accommodated inside the GSLV MK-III launch vehicle. Rover is housed inside Lander.

After the launch into an earth-bound orbit by GSLV MK-III, the integrated module would reach the moon orbit using the Orbiter propulsion module and subsequently, Lander would separate from Orbiter and soft land at the predetermined site, close to lunar South Pole, the ISRO said. Rover would roll out for carrying out scientific experiments on the lunar surface, it said, noting that instruments were also mounted on Lander and Orbiter for carrying out scientific experiments.

Chandrayaan-2 is an advanced version of the previous Chandrayaan-1 mission, which was launched about 10 years ago. It will also have the credit of being India's first interplanetary mission to be steered by two women — with M Vanitha as Project Director and Ritu Karidhal as Mission Director.

Chandrayaan-1 had 11 payloads — five from India, three from Europe, two from the US and one from Bulgaria. The mission had the credit for discovery of water on the lunar surface. The 1.4-tonne spacecraft was launched using PSLV and the Orbiter had orbited 100 km from the lunar surface.  — PTI

CHALLENGING MISSION

• 2.51 am  Launch on board GSLV MK-III vehicle from Sriharikota
• 3.8 tonne  Spacecraft has three modules — Orbiter, Lander (Vikram) and Rover (Pragyan)
• Orbiter, with scientific payloads, would orbit around the moon
• Lander would soft land on the moon and deploy Rover
• Rs 603 crore Mission cost of Chandrayaan-2 (satellite)  
• Rs 375 crore Cost of GSLV MK-III 

WHY IT IS SIGNIFICANT

Unlike Chandrayaan-1 launched using PSLV rocket and which involved only orbiting the moon, Chandrayaan-2 would land on southern pole of the moon, which is still unexplored by any country. Therefore, landing of spacecraft near lunar’s south pole would be historically significant as it would give ISRO opportunity to name that site on the moon

3RD ATTEMPT THIS YEAR

The Indian mission would be the third attempted lunar landing this year after China’s successful Chang’e-4 lunar probe and Israeli spacecraft Beresheet, which failed and crashed onto the moon in April

HISTORY IN MAKING

If India completes the mission, it will be the fourth country after Russia, the US and China to achieve the feat

Complexities involved in a moon landing

• Trajectory accuracy: Ensuring trajectory accuracy while navigating 3.844 lakh km has its own challenges
• Communication hurdle:  Owing to large distance from Earth, radio signals, which need to be picked up, would be weak 
• Lunar dust: Firing engines close to the lunar surface results backward flow of gases and dust, causing hindrance to deployment mechanism and damaging sensors
• Extreme temperatures:  A lunar day or night lasts 14 earth days, resulting in extreme surface  temperature variations
• Trans-lunar injection, capture:  Series of engine burns to get close to the moon, intersection of probe and moon must be predicted in advance with accuracy
• Soft landing: Most challenging part,  variations in local gravity need to be factored into lunar descent trajectory 
• Orbiting: The lumpy lunar gravity influences the orbit of the spacecraft