Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft completes 9,000 orbits around moon

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft of India has completed more than 9,000 orbits around the Moon. Imaging and other scientific instruments on the aircraft have been providing excellent useful data since then

Lunar Science Workshop 2021

Lunar Science Workshop 2021 is a two-day workshop, organised by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The workshop started on September 6, 2021. It was organised to commemorate the completion of two years of operation of Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft across the moon’s orbit. The workshop was live-streamed on ISRO’s website and Facebook page to effectively reach the students, academia and institutes.

Two Years of Chandrayaan-2

• According to Chairman of ISRO, K Sivan, Chandrayaan-2 comprises of eight payloads and are conducting remote sensing and in-situ observations of the Moon at 100 km altitude from the lunar surface.
• On the occasion, K Sivan also released data product and science documents besides the data from Chandrayaan-2 orbiter payloads.
• Science data are being made available to academia and institutes in order to analyse them. It will also help in bringing more science from Chandrayaan-2 mission.

Chandrayaan-2 Mission

It is the second lunar exploration mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), after Chandrayaan-1. It comprises of indigenously developed lunar orbiter, Vikram lander and Pragyan lunar rover. Mission was launched with the objective of mapping and study the variations in lunar surface composition, location and abundance of lunar water.

Launch of Chandrayaan-2

Chandrayaan-2 was launched to the Moon on July 22, 2019 by a GSLV Mark III-M1. It reached to the Moon’s orbit on August 20, 2019. It started the orbital positioning manoeuvres to land the Vikram lander. The lander and rover were scheduled to land on near side of the Moon, in the south polar region and conduct research for one lunar day. However, lander crashed after deviating from its intended trajectory. Its successful soft landing would have made India the fourth country to do so following the successful launch of Luna 9 by Soviet Union, Surveyor 1 by United States and Chang’e 3 by China.