India’s space ambitions owe a great deal to July 22, a significant date in the country’s scientific and technological achievements. The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) launched Chandrayaan-2, India’s second lunar exploration mission, from the Satish Dhawan space centre in Sriharikoin, Andhra Pradesh, on this date in 2019.
Chandrayaan-2 was launched with the goal of mapping variations in lunar surface composition as well as locating and studying the Moon’s surface for water. An orbiter, a lander (Vikram), and a rover were all part of the mission (Pragyan). The Chandrayaan-2 mission piqued public interest and media attention ahead of its launch because it came 11 years after Chandrayaan-1, India’s first ambitious lunar probe under the same programme.
If Chandrayaan-2 succeeds in its stated goals, India will become the fourth country after the Soviet Union, the United States, and China to land softly on the Moon’s surface, and the first country to do so on the Moon’s dark surface. According to a failure analysis report submitted by Isro, the lander crashed on September 6 when it deviated from its intended trajectory due to a software glitch.
The Chandrayaan-2 mission, however, was not a complete failure. Despite the fact that the lunar lander did not land on the Moon as planned, the orbiter operations of the spacecraft are still operational. The Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, with its eight scientific instruments, will continue its seven-year mission to study the Moon’s surface, according to an official statement from Isro.
The lessons learned from this operation gave a boost to a new lunar exploration mission being studied for launch this year, and July 22 continues to hold immense significance in the history of India’s cosmic feats. India’s new proposal, Chandrayaan-3, in collaboration with Japan, does not include plans for another satellite.
