One minute read. Written by a grade 7 student

What is Chandrayaan-2 and why is it so special?

Chandrayaan -2 is a space shuttle that will explore the southern part of the moon. This has never been done before and would, thus, make India the first country to do so. That’s quite an amazing feat.

Chandrayaan 2 is India’s second lunar mission with three modules: the Orbiter, Lander (Vikram) and Rover (Pragyan). It is a follow-up mission from the Chandrayaan-1 mission that was also very successful and confirmed the presence of water/hydroxyl on the moon in 2009.

It was launched on July 22, 2019, from Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. It will take 52 days to cross 384,000 kilometres! After revolving around the earth’s orbit for nearly 23 days, it began its journey to the moon on August 14. On August 20, the spacecraft entered the lunar orbit

The trickiest part of this mission will be the landing. On the day of landing, the lander will separate from the Orbiter and then perform a series of complex maneuvers.

The lander Vikram (named after Vikram Sarabai , who was an Indian scientist, physicist, and astronomer) will finally land near the South Pole of the moon on Sep 7, 2019. The rover will carry out experiments on the Lunar surface for a period of 1 Lunar day which is equal to 14 Earth days. The orbiter will continue its mission for a duration of one year.

On August 21st Chandrayaan 2 sends back its first image of the Moon. The image was captured at an altitude of 2650 kilometres from the moon’s surface on 21 August.

Who was Satish Dhawan: He was an Indian mathematician and aerospace engineer. He was one of the prominent scientists who led the development of the Indian space programme. He succeeded Vikram Sarabhai, as chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 1972. He was the recipient of the Padma Vibhushan award.

Who was Vikram Sarabhai: He was an Indian scientist, physicist and astronomer. He helped establish Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 1969. He was honoured with Padma Bhushan in 1966 and the Padma Vibhushan (posthumously) in 1972

WORDS TO KNOW:

Feat: An achievement that requires great courage, skill, or strength.

Also Read:

ISRO’s Space Programmes for 2023
Chandrayaan-3: How is India Exploring the Moon?

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