Face of Nation : CHENNAI: More than a decade after Chandrayaan-1, and at a time when there’s renewed global interest in the Moon, India is all geared up for a second trip with Chandrayaan-2, which is scheduled for launch at 2.51am Monday.While a successful mission will mark multiple firsts for India, the attempt itself is seen as the country’s next step in international space race as it vies to rub shoulders with big space-faring nations— US, Russia and China.
In the 10 years between Chandrayaan-1 and Chandrayaan-2, China has landed on the lunar surface multiple times, with its latest mission having put “Chang’e 4” on the farside of the Moon in January, a first for any country.
While US’ Nasa has been more focused on Mars, it has, in the past few months upped the ante with its Artemis programme that will put humans on the lunar surface again. The most recent announcement by Nasa was that it is looking to use GPS on the Moon.
“GPS, a satellite-based navigation system used by an estimated 4-billion people worldwide to figure out their precise location on Earth, could be used to pilot in and around lunar orbit during Artemis missions,” a Nasa statement reads. A team is developing a special receiver for this.
Isro, in fact, missed multiple launch windows in 2018 and one again in January 2019, which would have seen India pip China in attaining a first on the Moon, by soft-landing instruments in the southern polar region.
While all preparations are complete and Chandrayaan-2 is sitting inside the GSLV-MkIII at the second launchpad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, about 100km north of Chennai, Isro knows that the launch is only the first step.
Its actual achievements will come 52 days later, when it lands (Vikram) on the lunar surface. Unlike Chandrayaan-1, this Rs 978-crore mission involves landing Vikram and unloading a Rover (Pragyan), while the Orbiter will go around the Earth’s satellite.
This is the first time that India is attempting to land something on any place other than Earth. And, despite the mission coming half-a-century after the world’s first instruments landed on Moon, Chandrayaan-2, riding on its predecessor’s discovery of water molecules, is a mission the world will sit up and watch.
“The renewed global interest in Moon could also be credited to the discoveries made by instruments on Chandrayaan-1,” a senior Isro scientist said. It’s success, Isro chairman K Sivan had told TOI earlier, will make India only the fourth country to land a probe on the Moon, while also claiming that it is going where no other country has gone— the lunar southern polar region.
Most of the US landings on Moon were in the equatorial region, while Chang’e 4 landed on the farside of the Moon near the south pole in January. Former Isro chairman AS Kiran Kumar said: “Chandrayaan-2 will help study the presence and distribution of water in a more concrete manner as it has upgraded instruments.”
