Enumerate the features of Chandrayaan 2 in detail along with the challenges it will have to face.

Chandrayaan 2 is India�s second mission to the Moon. It will be ISRO�s first inter-planetary mission to land rover on any celestial body.
Features of the mission

  • It has been developed indigenously by ISRO
  • It consists of an orbiter, lander and rover configuration
  • The 3,800-kg spacecraft includes an orbiter which will circle the moon at 100 km
  • A five-legged lander called�Vikram will descend on the moon. It will soft-land on the lunar surface at a specified site and deploy a rover Pragyan
  • The rover will move on the lunar surface and will pick up soil or rock samples for on-site chemical analysis
  • It will collect scientific information on lunar topography, mineralogy, elemental abundance, lunar exosphere and signatures of hydroxyl and water-ice
  • It will perform the objectives of remote sensing the moon

Challenges to the mission
Ensuring trajectory accuracy: The distance between moon and earth is large. Navigating such a large distance poses many challenges as trajectory is influenced by the non-uniform gravity of the earth and moon, gravitational pull of other astronomical bodies, solar radiation pressure, and the moons true orbital motion.
Deep space communication:� Due to the large distance from earth and limited on- board power, radio signals used for communication are weak with heavy background noise.
Trans Lunar Injection and Lunar capture: As the moon�s location is continually changing due to orbital motion, the intersection of Chandrayaan 2 and the Moon�s path has to be predicted sufficiently in advance with a high level of accuracy.
Soft landing on the moon: The on-board NGC and propulsion system has to work in union, autonomously, and automatically for a successful landing. Further, the landing site landscape features should not result in a communication shadow area.
Orbiting around the moon is a challenge: Lunar gravity is �lumpy� due to uneven mass distribution under its surface and it influences the orbit of the spacecraft.
Lunar dust is major issue: The lunar dust stick to most surfaces, causing a disruption in deployment mechanisms, solar panel performance, and NGC sensor performances.
Extreme temperature and hard vacuum: It makes the lunar surface extremely hostile environment for lander and rover operations.
According to ISRO Chandrayaan-2 will be the most complex mission undertaken by ISRO. It is because the landing on moon involves multiple challenges.
 

Originally written on February 21, 2023 and last modified on October 27, 2024.
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