Chandrayaan-2 mission launch most likely in Feb

Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will most likely launch Chandrayaan-2, the country’s second mission to the Moon in the month of February.

Chandrayaan-2

The features of the Chandrayaan-2 mission are:

• Chandrayaan-2 mission is a totally indigenous venture comprising of an orbiter, a lander and a rover.
• There would be a controlled descent and the lander would soft-land on the lunar surface at a specified site and deploy a rover.
• The rover would then move around the landing site on the lunar surface in a semi-autonomous mode as decided by the ground commands.
• The rover will observe the lunar surface and send back the data. This data will be useful for analysis of the lunar soil.
• The payloads will collect scientific information on lunar topography, mineralogy, elemental abundance, lunar exosphere and signatures of hydroxyl and water-ice.
• The 3,290-kg Chandrayaan-2 will orbit the Moon and perform the objectives of remote sensing the moon.

Accomplishments of Chandrayaan-1

India’s first lunar probe Chandrayaan-1 was launched by the ISRO in October 2008 and operated till August 2009. The Chandrayaan-1 had confirmed the magma ocean hypothesis, which stated that the moon was once completely molten. In its ten-month orbit around the moon, Chandrayaan-1 had detected titanium and had confirmed the presence of calcium. Chandrayaan-1 had gathered the most accurate measurements yet of magnesium, aluminium and iron on the lunar surface.

Month: Current Affairs - January, 2019