India Prepares for Second Lunar Mission
India is gearing up to launch its second lunar mission in the month of July. It is expected to land on the moon in September.
On the 1st of May, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that it was planning to launch Chandrayaan-2. This would be India’s second launch to the moon. However, sources say that there is still alot of work left to be done, before the launch. Chandrayaan 2 has three parts. The Orbiter, the lander (Vikram) and rover (Pragyan)
Once Chandrayaan reaches close to the moon, the Lander (Vikram) will separate from the Orbiter and land at a site which is already decided close to the south pole. This site has not been explored by other countries.
K Sivan, the Chairman of ISRO said that once the Lander (Vikram) lands on the surface of the moon, the Rover (Pragyan) will come out of it and will move on the moon for 300-400 meters. It will spend 14 earth days on the moon to carry out various scientific experiments.
Last year, ISRO missed their deadline since they had to make many changes in the design. Also, the Lander (Vikram) had been damaged during trials. It needed to be fixed. In January 2019 too, the ISRO missed their deadline for the same reason.
The launch of this mission was planned to be in April 2018, but the ISRO kept postponing it due to certain difficulties.
If Chandrayaan 2 successfully lands on the moon in September, India will become the fourth country to successfully land on the moon.
