Chandrayaan-2: India set to launch second Moon mission
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is set to run a historic launch later today, with the Chandrayaan-2 lunar mission, which will aim to put a rover on the Moon’s south pole to help study the celestial body’s origin. The launch is target for 2:51 AM India Standard Time (IST), which is 5:21 PM EST.
Only the US, China and the former Soviet Union have been able to do so.
The $150m mission - Chandrayaan-2 - aims to gather data on water, minerals and rock formations on the Moon.
The lander and rover are expected to touch down near the lunar south pole in early September, becoming the first ever spacecraft to land in that region.
The spacecraft weighs 2,379kg (5,244lb) and has three distinct parts: an orbiter, a lander and a rover.
The orbiter, which has a mission life of a year, will take images of the lunar surface, and "sniff" the tenuous atmosphere.
The lander (named Vikram, after the founder of Isro) weighs about half as much, and carries within its belly a 27kg Moon rover with instruments to analyse the lunar soil. In its 14-day life, the rover (called Pragyan - wisdom in Sanskrit) can travel up to a half a kilometre from the lander and will send data and images back to Earth for analysis.
A successful mission to the Moon would also be a win for India's ambitious space agency, which has had a string of successes recently.
I am so freaking fortunate that i am getting to see this. I am an India who one day dreams on working in ISRO. This feels so surreal. I hope, with all of my heart, this goes well. This would be such a win for the science community in India.
