Chandrayaan 2 – India’s Hour of Glory

India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle MkIII-M1 at its launch pad in Sriharikota,  started the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft on its journey to the moon. Pic courtesy : ISRO

Only three nations have successfully landed spacecraft on the moon — the United States and the Soviet Union during the space race of the 1960s and 1970s, and more recently, China. (An Israeli nonprofit attempted to send a lander named Beresheet to the moon earlier this year, but it crashed.)

The above statement is enough to show the importance of this mission and what is there to be achieved  by our scientists with a minimum amount of budget but maximum amount of hard work and dedication(fingers crossed). If we are able to and with full faith in our scientists I can say that we will successfully complete this mission it will be a moment of our lifetime. We will be fortunate enough to witness such an incredible feat in our lifetime.

A basic info about this mission as given by ISRO is ;Chandrayaan 2 is on a mission unlike any before. Leveraging nearly a decade of scientific research and engineering development, India’s second lunar expedition will shed light on a completely unexplored section of the Moon — its South Polar region. This mission will help us gain a better understanding of the origin and evolution of the Moon by conducting detailed topographical studies, comprehensive mineralogical analyses, and a host of other experiments on the lunar surface. While there, we will also explore discoveries made by Chandrayaan 1, such as the presence of water molecules on the Moon and new rock types with unique chemical composition.

I will not go into the scientific details because I am not an expert in that but would like to highlight the key aspects and components regarding this mission which we should know in order to truly appreciate our scientists efforts.

Components of Chandrayaan 2

The spacecraft consists of multiple pieces:

1) an orbiter;

2) a lander named Vikram, after Vikram A. Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space program;

3) and, a six-wheeled rover named Pragyan, which means “wisdom” in Sanskrit.

Chandrayaan-2 includes a moon orbiter, a lander called Vikram and a robotic rover called Pragyan that will explore the lunar surface. Pic courtesy: ISRO

The lander(which will be carrying the rover) has detached itself  till now and is heading towards the landing site at the south pole of the moon.

The rover carries a couple of instruments to measure the composition of moon rocks and soil. The lander carries instruments to measure moonquakes, temperatures a couple of inches into the soil and charged particles from the sun in the extremely tenuous lunar atmosphere.

The lander and rover are expected to operate just a couple of weeks.

The orbiter carries a suite of instruments, including cameras and spectrometers, and is designed to operate at least a year.

Budget(Another reason to feel proud for our nation’s scientific and technological expertise)

Our ISRO has spent an amount of Rs 978 crores in achieving this ambitious project. While Rs 673 crores were spent on the mission, Rs 375 crores are being shelled out for the launch this Monday. While this budget is well below the amount that is usually spent on other similar projects, Rs 978 crore is also below the budget of a few Hollywood movies.
Avatar and Avengers: Endgame has costed more!

Avengers: Endgame was made at a budget of Rs 2443 cores while the most expensive movie made in the history of cinema – Avatar required a sum of Rs 3282 crores to be produced. It is indeed a proud achievement that our most ambitious space project has cost us less than the budget of these movies.

ISRO has made a name for itself amongst other space organizations to materialize space missions at extremely low budgets. Considering the amount spent by the US and the Soviet Union on their projects in the current value of money, ISRO has done a fantastic job with the Chandrayaan-2 mission.

For a developing country like India this is a huge scientific breakthrough as this will reap great rewards for our country in the future. We should all feel indebted to our great scientists who with their hard work and dedication have created a niche in the world even with the minimum amount of resources and funding available to them. By this mission we will be expanding our footprints in space, inspire a future generations of scientists, engineers, explorers and surpass international aspirations.

At about 1:30 am on 7^th September 2019 India will create history. The whole world is watching towards India for successful completion of this ambitious mission. I will be watching. Will you?

Let’s pray for our success  and feel proud for our scientists who have worked hard for making India’s name shine bright among the stars.

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