Chandrayaan 2

Chandrayaan-2 Moon Mission

Instruments

    • Terrain Mapping Camera 2 (TMC-2), which will map the lunar surface in three dimensions using two on-board cameras. A predecessor instrument called TMC flew on Chandrayaan-1.

    • Collimated Large Array Soft X-ray Spectrometer (CLASS), which will map the abundance of minerals on the surface. A predecessor instrument called CIXS (sometimes written as C1XS) flew on Chandrayaan-1.

    • Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM), which looks at emissions of solar X-rays.

    • Chandra's Atmospheric Composition Explorer (ChACE-2), which is a neutral mass spectrometer. A predecessor instrument called CHACE flew on Chandrayaan-1's Moon Impact Probe.

    • Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), which will map the surface in radio waves. Some of its design is based on Chandrayaan-1's MiniSAR.

    • Imaging Infra-Red Spectrometer (IIRS), which will measure the abundance of water/hydroxl on the surface.

    • Orbiter High Resolution Camera (OHRC) to examine the surface, particularly the landing site of the lander and rover.

Chandrayaan-2 Moon South Pole Rover Mission

This mission Launched in July 2019 Launch aboard a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) rocket.

The expected moon landing on Sept.6, 2019.

Chandrayaan-2 is India's second mission to the moon. It includes a robotic lunar orbiter/lander/rover combo that was scheduled to touch down at a predetermined site close to the lunar south pole.

Chandrayaan-2 is an advanced version of the previous Chandrayaan-1 mission to the moon that launched successfully on Oct. 22, 2008, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.

Chandrayaan-1 mission that assisted in confirming the presence of water/hydroxyl on the moon in 2009.

Chandrayaan-2 is comprised of three modules: an orbiter, the Vikram lander (named after former ISRO chairman Vikram Sarabhai) and the Pragyan rover.

Chandrayaan-2's lander and rover are targeted for a location about 600 kilometers (375 miles) from the south pole, which would be the first time any mission touched down so far from the equator, ISRO plans to use the experience for more challenging missions in the future, such as touching down on an asteroid or Mars, or sending a spacecraft to Venus.

The lander is expected to last about one lunar day, or 14 Earth-days; it is unclear if it will revive after falling into the darkness of a lunar night. Its measurements of moonquakes would provide more data after the information collected by the human Apollo missions in the 1960s and 1970s, according to Science. Meanwhile, the terrain explored by the rover is of great scientific interest due to the rocks' old age; at 4 billion years old, scientists say the zone likely is composed of an ancient magma ocean.

Obiter

The Chandrayaan-2 orbiter will circle the moon and provide information about its surface.

The orbiter will perform mapping from an altitude of 100 kilometers (62 miles)

Vikram lander

The Vikram lander's instruments include:

    • Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA), to look for moonquakes.

    • Chandra's Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE), to examine the surface's thermal properties.

    • Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA-Langmuir Probe), to look at plasma density on the surface.

Pragyan rover

Once deployed, the Pragyan rover will carry out scientific experiments on the lunar surface. Instruments are also mounted on the lander and orbiter for performing science tasks.

Pragyan is a small, 20-kilogram (44 lbs.), six-wheeled rover that can move semi-autonomously. It will be used to examining the lunar regolith's composition.

The rover will carry two science instruments to look at the composition of the surface: the Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) and the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS).

There are 13 Indian payloads (eight on the orbiter, three on the lander and two on the rover), along with one passive experiment from NASA — a Laser Retro-reflector Array (LRA) for Lunar Landers.