Discussion Chandrayaan 2 News & Updates

[Sarkar]

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to launch Chandrayan-2 Mission, the country’s second mission to moon, around April this year and will cost around Rs 800 crore, the government said Friday.

Chandraayan-2 will be different from the agency’s maiden launch in 2008 as for the first time it will carry an orbiter, a lander and a rover to the moon.

The Chandrayaan-2 is a totally indigenous mission comprising of an Orbiter, Lander and Rover. After reaching the 100 km lunar orbit, the Lander housing the Rover will separate from the Orbiter. After a controlled descent, the Lander will soft land on the lunar surface at a specified site and deploy a Rover.

The six-wheeled Rover will move around the landing site in semi-autonomous mode as decided by the ground commands. The instruments on the rover will observe the lunar surface and send back data, which will be useful for analysis of the lunar soil. Collection of soil and rock sediments is not planned in this mission.

Chandrayaan-2 launch expected in April
ISRO's Chandrayaan 2 Mission launch in April, to aim for moon's south pole

 

[Sarkar]

MOBILITY TESTING OF THE CHANDRAYAAN-2 ROVER
ISRO employs a balloon to counteract 5/6 of the weight of a duplicate of the Chandrayaan-2 rover in order to test its mobility on simulated lunar soil at lunar gravity.

It has two navigation cameras for stereo path planning and an inclinometer for safety (drives will stop if the rover's inclination or motor current gets too high). It has no rear-facing cameras. It will use a small radio antenna for communication with the lander, which will relay rover data to Earth. The radio antenna is atop its vertically-mounted solar panel. Its solar panel is mounted vertically because of the near-polar landing site. That suggests the rover will need to turn in place after traverses to align the panel for good power production.

The rover is equipped with two science instruments for elemental composition, both of which point downward, beneath the rover: a Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) and an Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer. In general, LIBS will get you lower-mass elements and APXS will get you higher-mass elements, with substantial overlap between them. LIBS is faster, APXS more sensitive to trace elements if you can give it long enough integration time.

CHANDRAYAAN-2, LAUNCH CONFIGURATION
Chandrayaan-2 consists of an orbiter, lander, and small rover. Here, the spacecraft is shown in its launch configuration.

CHANDRAYAAN-2 LAUNCH, LUNAR TRANSFER, AND LANDING TRAJECTORY

CHANDRAYAAN-2 LANDER DEPLOYING ROVER

Landing Location :

 

[Sarkar]

India's upcoming Rs 800-crore Chandrayaan-2 mission will be cheaper than Hollywood's 2014 sci-fi movie 'Interstellar' that cost Rs 1,062 crore ($165 million).

Dr Sivan said, "We are trying for a dawn-to-dusk landing and rover walk on the lunar's mission for maximum utilisation of the scientific mission. If we are not able to land in April due to various factors, then the mission will be launched in November. If we launch between April and November we won't get the perfect dawn-to-dusk landing and experiment time due to moon eclipses, therefore, we will avoid the launch in between. The perfect timing for the launch comes only once in a month."

Chandrayaan-2 mission cheaper than Hollywood film Interstellar - Times of India

 

[Sarkar]

Three crucial payloads for India’s ambitious Chandrayaan 2 moon mission were flagged off from the Space Applications Centre (SAC) recently. These include the orbiter high resolution camera, lander position detection camera and lander hazard detection avoidance camera, which were flagged off by director SAC Tapan Misra. Currently simulations tests on various Chandrayaan-2 components had been going on at Isro centres in Bengaluru, Mahendragiri and Chitradurga, Karnataka. Isro had in fact created artificial ‘lunar craters’ as part of ‘hazard avoidance and landing’ tests at these locations.

SAC dispatches crucial moon mission components - Times of India

 

[Sarkar]

Chandrayaan-2 launch delayed, likely to take off only after Oct - Times of India

The original plan envisaged the launch between April and November with the real target focussed for April. Top Isro officials had expressed confidence that the takeoff will happen in April.

But on Friday, it was stated the lunar mission was not yet ready for an April lift-off and much still needs to be done.

 

[ayyappa]

Chandrayaan 2 Delayed, Israel Could Beat India In Race To Moon's Surface
Chandrayaan 2 Delayed, Israel Could Beat India In Race To Moon's Surface

 

[Sarkar]

Chandrayaan-2 not to blast off on Jan 3, Isro yet to fix launch date - Times of India

Isro chairman Sivan K told TOI that the agency was busy with multiple launches in the second half of 2018 and this affected work on the moon mission. “At this moment I cannot comment on the date,” he said. “We will be able to decide on that in about 10 to 12 days.”

 

[Sarkar]

Isro's Chandrayaan-2 to land on Moon by September 6: All you should know

India's much-delayed second moon mission, Chandrayaan-2, finally got a launch window and is scheduled to take off between July 9 to 16 this year with an expected landing on the lunar surface by September 6.

Image of Vikram, the lander on Chandrayaan-2.


The ISRO is cautious about Chandrayaan-2, its first mission to land on any celestial body, as it is wary of failure after Israel's Beresheet spacecraft crashed during moon landing on April 11.

If the Chandrayaan-2 mission becomes successful, it will become the second mission ever to land a rover near the lunar south pole and India would become the fourth nation to have achieved this feat after the US, Russia and China.

 

[mmadhankumar]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1128528739606753280

https://twitter.com/x/status/1128674861520310272

 

[Abhinav]

That NASA passive experiment is a kind of special Mirror which will be attached on the landed which is going to land near South Pole of Moon. That mirror will reflect back Laser Light sent from earth and this way we will measure accurate distance between Earth and Moon