India’s ambitious Chandrayan-2 lunar mission was successfully launched on 22 July for a 7-week journey on the moon’s south pole. Earlier, the launch was planned for 2018 but the launch date was shifted for later to carry out more tests. After making a number of changes, Chandrayan-2 was scheduled to launch earlier in 2019 but the damage to its lander legs delayed it for 14 July. However, the detection of a technical snag 56 minutes before liftoff using electrical failure investigation services further aborted the launch. But on 22 July, 2019, at 2:43 am local time, Chandrayan-2 was successfully lifted-off to explore the polar regions of the Moon.
K Sivan, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that the success of Chandrayaan-2 will make it easier for them to launch more ambitious projects for landings on Mars and an asteroid, as well as a Venus probe. The instruments present on the lander and rover will help to gather information on the moon’s thin envelope of plasma and isotopes namely Helium-3, which will be used as a potential fuel for future fusion energy reactors.
Chandrayan-2 mission costs $150 million and the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft will be launched from Sriharikota spaceport on the Bay of Bengal on India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle. The lander and rover of Chandrayaan 2 will collect an important data on the moon’s surface and probe moon’s lunar surface composition. The successful soft landing of India’s Chandrayaan-2 will inspire other country’s moon programs.
