After the successful Chandrayaan 1 Mission, India’s first lunar probe, ISRO is getting ready for Chandrayaan 2 which will have an orbiter, a lander, and a rover. In an exclusive report by Times of India, the publication has revealed important details about the lunar mission as disclosed by ISRO Chairman Dr. K Sivan. As per the reports, the Chandrayaan 2 will spend 14 Earth days on the surface of the Moon.
This upcoming mission is going to be quite challenging as this is the first time for the organization is sending the lander, rover, and orbiter to the Moon. The scheduled launch date is in April and the launch will be carried out from Sriharikota. The orbiter is likely to reach the moon’s orbit in around 1 to 2 months.
Once the orbiter enters the Moon’s orbit, the lander will get detached and will perform a soft landing near the south pole of the Moon. On landing to the surface, the 6-wheeled rover will have enough power to spend 14 Earth days on the Moon.
Image Courtesy: Futurism
Dr. Sivan informed the publication that the rover can cover a range of 150 to 200 km and is scheduled to conduct several experiments while performing on-site chemical analysis of the lunar surface. The rover has been programmed to send the captured images to the Earth by relaying them to the orbiter, which is expected to reach the Earth in 15 minutes.
After spending 14 days, the rover will get into sleep mode and then wake up when the Sun rays would fall on it. Reportedly, all the components of the module are ready and the integration is being carried out. Once the module is completely done with the integration, it would go through rigorous testing. Also, the launch date would be decided as per the Moon’s relative position with respect to that of the Earth and various other factors.
