India’s second lunar mission Chandraayan 2 has completed one year around the moon on Thursday. The orbiter has managed to complete 4,400 orbits around the moon in the last 12 months and it has enough fuel to continue the operation for 7 more years. All parts of Chandrayaan-2 are efficiently working said space agency ISRO. Chandrayaan 2 was launched on July 22 from Banglore space agency and had entered the moon’s orbit on August 20, 2019.
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) issued a statement saying, “Though the soft-landing attempt (of the lander carrying the rover) was not successful, the orbiter, which was equipped with eight scientific instruments, was successfully placed in the lunar orbit. The orbiter completed more than 4,400 orbits around the Moon and all the instruments are currently performing well.
The Indian space agency has said that the spacecraft is healthy and performance of its subsystems are normal. The orbiter is being maintained in 100+/-25 km polar orbit (circling the moon along the poles) with periodic orbit maintenance (OM) manoeuvres. When any satellite or spacecraft is in space in a certain orbit it swings wildly on a certain plane and moves a few hundred metres or even a few kilometres away from the intended path. That’s when commands are issued to fire its on-board liquid-fuelled Motors to steer it back on course.
The second lunar Chandrayaan-2 mission was a first-ever effort by every government to make a landing on the lunar floor with the South Pole explorer. India had deployed the spacecraft successfully in 2019 but the lander ‘Vikram’ made a rough landing in September. Now the corporation has ensured the satellite should do well and have a ample amount of fuel to operate for another 7 years.
The scientists said the orbiter’s long awaited existence would play a critical role in recognizing celestial physics, with a prolonged appearance on the Earth.
Earth’s only natural satellite has always been an enigma to modern science. The more we study the more we feel the insignificance of our knowledge. Chandryaan-2 was launched to further expand the knowledge about the moon. Via a detailed study of its topography, mineralogy, thermo-physical characteristics, surface chemical composition, and atmosphere leading to a better understanding of the evolution and the origin of the moon.
Moreover, India’s first mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-1, which was launched in 2008, had given clear evidence on the extensive presence of surface water. It also gave us the indication for subsurface polar water-ice deposits.
India’s second moon-probe Chandrayaan 2 was launched on July 22 last year and had attempted a moon-landing on September 7. However, the much anticipated landing happened to end-up in a crash landing, after ISRO lost contact with the Vikram lander, barely at an altitude of 2.1 km from the lunar surface. This mission was launched with the objectives of obtaining detailed information on the topography, mineralogy, surface chemical composition, thermo-physical characteristics and the lunar exosphere.
India’s first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 is credited with finding extensive presence of surface water and the indication of sub-surface polar water-ice deposits. ISRO is also working on Chandrayaan 3, the country’s third moon probe, and it is expected to be launched sometime in 2021 or later
