Recently on 22 July 2019, ISRO launched India’s first lunar surface mission named Chandrayaan-2 from Satish Dhawan space centre Sriharikota Andhra Pradesh. If this the mission succeeds, India will be the fifth country in the world to send its spacecraft on the moon’s surface after Russia, USA, Japan and China.



Image showing trajectory of Chandrayaan 2
What is Chandrayaan-2?
·        It is an Indian space agency ISRO’s (Indian space research organization) moon mission which will land on the moon surface and will study and collect data about its surface, presence of water, rocks and atmosphere.

·        It has been sent by heavy rocket launcher named GSLV- Mk III.


·        Apart from that, it has an orbiter, a lander “vikram” and a rover “pragyan”.

·        After 48 days of launch on 7 September 2019, the orbiter will eject the lander vikram from it and will start revolving around the moon.

·         After ejection lander vikram will land on south pole region of moon where no any spacecraft reached yet.

·         After successful landing on the surface, rover pragyan will come out from lander and will move slowly on the moon surface.

·        Pragyan will cover the 500-meter distance with a slow speed of 1cm/second.

·        Rover pragayn has been designed to be usable up to 1 lunar day which is equal to 14 earth days.

·        Pragyan will send images, data and other information to lander vikram which will be further transmitted to orbiter and ISRO centres.

·        While the rover will not be in use after 14 earth days but its orbiter will keep revolving around the moon at height of 100km for 1 year.

·        Orbiter will study the moon’s surface, atmosphere, evidence of water, ice trapped in the south pole craters and will also do three-dimensional mapping of the moon surface.

Why ISRO’s this mission is special?
·       If it succeeds, India will be the first country to send its mission on the south pole of the moon which hasn’t been explored yet.

·        Moon’s south pole region is supposed to be filled with small and large craters ranging from few centimetres in size to those extending to several thousand kilometres. So it makes difficult to land any spacecraft here.

·        All components of Chandrayaan 2 i.e. GSLV-mk III rocket launcher, orbiter vikram and rover pragyan are indigenously made.

·        It is also unique in its path to the moon because unlike NASA or other space agencies, firstly after projection, it will revolve around the earth from a height of 170kms and will gain its height to 39120kms (also known as GTO geo synchronous transfer orbit). From where it’ll enter in moons orbit and orbiter will search for a safer place to land its lander.

·        Though it will take lots of time but it makes chandrayaan-2 an excellent example of engineering as well as a cost-efficient lunar mission.   


Reason for exploring lunar south pole
·        It has not been explored yet by any other space agencies of the world.

·        The lunar south pole has a very irregular surface due to the presence of craters which makes it difficult to land any spacecraft there.

·        Unlike the earth, the moon is not tilted on its axis and it is almost erect, which keep its polar region away from the direct sunlight always. Due to which this the region is frozen cold and its temperature is in the range of minus 200 degree Celcius.

·        Though water present on its poles is critical to sustaining human presence but it can be broken into hydrogen and oxygen, which in turn can be used in rocket fuel.

·        With moon’s low gravity, space vehicle needs a lot less fuel than on earth for take-off. That could make the moon a convenient way station from which human explorer could travel to other celestial bodies.

·        Scientists believed that rocks found in the craters could have a fossil record that can reveal information about the early solar system.

 Impact for India: Global and strategic
·         Though India is an emerging space power, after this mission India will be among the list of those countries who have expertise in lunar research.

 ·       It will pave the way for further space exploration for not only India but also for global community.

 ·        Successful launch of heavy rocket launcher GSLV-Mk III has helped in gaining the reputation of ISRO as a successful satellite launcher in the world which will be beneficial for Indian space science and for the economy by launching foreign satellites.

·        India recently announced its plan to build its own space station by 2030 and on 15 August 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that ISRO will be sending astronauts to LEO (low earth orbit) by 2022.

 ·        Strategically it will help India for long term space access and dominance because of the presence of rich mineral resources and water ice on the southern pole of the moon. For which other countries are looking also.

 ·        India’s space policy indicates that India is now a serious contender for the strategic future where space resources will play a significant role in determining the future of international power.
Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist of china’s lunar exploration program at the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) forecasted in 2002: “ the moon can serve as a new and tremendous supplier of energy and resources for human beings…this is crucial to the sustainable development of human beings on earth…whoever first conquers the moon will benefit first.”