Chandrayaan-2
Chandrayaan-2 (; from Sanskrit: Chandra, "Moon" and yāna, "craft, vehicle") is the second lunar exploration mission developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) after Chandrayaan-1. It consists of a lunar orbiter, the Vikram lunar lander, and the Pragyan rover, all of which were developed in India. The main scientific objective is to map and study the variations in lunar surface composition, as well as the location and abundance of lunar water.
Mission type
44441
ISRO
ISRO
100 km (62 mi) [14]
100 km (62 mi)
near-Lunar south pole (intended)
Tiranga Point 70°52′52″S 22°47′02″E / 70.8810°S 22.7840°E
(between Manzinus C and Simpelius N craters) (crash site)
The spacecraft was launched from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh on 22 July 2019 at 09:13:12 UTC by a LVM3-M1 rocket. The craft reached lunar orbit on 20 August 2019. The Vikram lander attempted a lunar landing on 6 September 2019; the lander crashed due to a software error.
The lunar orbiter continues to operate in orbit around the Moon. A follow-up landing mission, Chandrayaan-3, was launched in 2023 and successfully performed a lunar landing.
History[edit]
On 12 November 2007, representatives of the Roscosmos and ISRO signed an agreement for the two agencies to work together on the Chandrayaan-1's follow-up project, Chandrayaan-2.[16][17] ISRO would have the prime responsibility for the orbiter, rover and the launch by GSLV, while Roscosmos was to provide the lander.[18] The Indian government approved the mission in a meeting of the Union Cabinet, held on 18 September 2008 and chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.[19] The design of the spacecraft was completed in August 2009, with scientists of both countries conducting a joint review.[20]
Although ISRO finalised the payload for Chandrayaan-2 on schedule,[21] the mission was postponed in January 2013 and rescheduled to 2016 because Russia was unable to develop the lander on time.[22][23][24] In 2012, there was a delay in the construction of the Russian lander for Chandrayaan-2 due to the failure of the Fobos-Grunt mission to Mars, since the technical issues connected with the Fobos-Grunt mission which were also used in the lunar projects including the lander for Chandrayaan-2 needed to be reviewed.[23] The changes proposed by Roscosmos necessitated increase in lander mass and required ISRO to decrease mass of its rover and accept some reliability risk.[25][18] When Russia cited its inability to provide the lander even by a revised time-frame of 2015 due to technical and financial reasons, India decided to develop the lunar mission independently.[22][26] With new mission timeline for Chandrayaan-2 and an opportunity for a Mars mission arising with launch window in 2013, unused Chandrayaan-2 orbiter hardware was repurposed to be used for Mars Orbiter Mission.[27]
Chandrayaan-2 launch had been scheduled for March 2018 initially, but was first delayed to April and then to October 2018 to conduct further tests on the vehicle.[28][29] On 19 June 2018, after the program's fourth Comprehensive Technical Review meeting, a number of changes in configuration[30] and landing sequence[31] were planned for implementation which increased the gross lift-off mass of spacecraft from 3,250 kg to 3,850 kg.[32] Initially an uprated GSLV Mk II[33][34] was the chosen launch vehicle for Chandrayaan-2 but this increased spacecraft mass and issues with launch vehicle upratement[35] forced the launch vehicle to be switched to more capable LVM3.[30] Issues with engine throttling were found during testing[36] pushing the launch to the early 2019[37] and later two of the lander's legs received minor damage during one of the tests in February 2019 delaying the launch even further.[38][39]
Chandrayaan-2 launch was scheduled for 14 July 2019, 21:21 UTC (15 July 2019 at 02:51 IST local time), with the landing expected on 6 September 2019.[40] However, the launch was aborted due to a technical glitch and was rescheduled.[9][41][42] The launch occurred on 22 July 2019 at 09:13:12 UTC (14:43:12 IST) on the first operational flight of a GSLV MK III M1.[43]
On 6 September 2019, the lander during its landing phase, deviated from its intended trajectory starting at 2.1 km (1.3 mi) altitude,[44] and had lost communication when touchdown confirmation was expected.[45][46] Initial reports suggesting a crash [47][48] were confirmed by ISRO chairman K. Sivan, stating that "it must have been a hard landing".[49] The Failure Analysis Committee concluded that the crash was caused by a software glitch.[50] Unlike ISRO's previous record, the report of the Failure Analysis Committee has not been made public.[51]
Chandrayaan-2 orbiter performed a collision avoidance manoeuvre at 14:52 UTC on 18 October 2021 to avert possible conjunction with Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Both spacecraft were expected to come dangerously close to each other on 20 October 2021 at 05:45 UTC over the Lunar north pole.[52]
The primary objectives of the Chandrayaan-2 lander were to illustrate the ability to soft-land and operate a robotic rover on the lunar surface.
The scientific goals of the orbiter are
The orbiter, which is still active, did experiments on Lunar Atmospheric composition, trace elements, and more
Aftermath[edit]
There was an outpouring of support for ISRO from various quarters in the aftermath of the crash landing of its lunar lander. However, prominent Indian news media also criticized ISRO's lack of transparency regarding the crash of the lander and its analysis of the crash.[191][154] Indian media also noted that unlike ISRO's previous record, the report of the Failure Analysis Committee was not made public[51] and RTI queries seeking it were denied by ISRO citing section 8(1) of the RTI Act.[192] ISRO's lack of consistency regarding the explanation around the rover's crashing was criticized, with the organization providing no proof of its own positions until the efforts of NASA and a Chennai based volunteer located the crash site on the lunar surface.[193] In the wake of the events surrounding Chandrayaan-2, former ISRO employees criticized unverified statements from chairman K Sivan and what they claimed is the top-down leadership and working culture of the organization.[194][195][196] S Somanath who succeeded K Sivan as ISRO Chairman also expressed his dissatisfaction at the lack of transparency around landing failure, and misleading representation of it.[197][198][199]