The 15-minute travel of lander is new to ISRO. It is for the first time ISRO is going to another body where there is no atmosphere.
Bangalore: Chandrayaan-2’s landing module Vikram will begin its final descent to pull off a historic soft landing on the lunar surface this Saturday that is 7 September as the ISRO awaits with a bated breath for the “terrifying moment”.
A successful landing will make India the fourth country after Russia, the USA, and China to achieve a soft landing on the moon. This will also be the first successful mission to the unexplored lunar South pole.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be present at ISRO center in Bangalore to witness live the space feat, said official.
Lander Vikram with rover Pragyaan housed inside is scheduled for a powered descent between 1 am to 2 am on September 7 followed by its touchdown between 1.30am and 2.30am. The lander is now in an orbit that would be about 35km from the lunar surface at its nearest point from where it will begin its final descent.
ISRO has quoted that Chandrayaan-2 will attempt to soft-land the lander and rover in a high plain between two craters, Manzinus C and Simpelius N, at a latitude of about 70 south. ISRO chairman K.Sivan said the proposed soft landing on the moon was going to be a terrifying moment as ISRO has not done it before.
The 15-minute travel of lander is new to ISRO. It is for the first time ISRO is going to another body where there is no atmosphere and using the propulsion system we will have to break the velocity and bring the vehicles safely to soft-land.
To achieve this we will have to balance between gravity and thrust. So we have to module the thrust of the engine, said officials.
Pragyaan will roll out from Vikram between 5.30am to 6.30am. while the Pragyaan will carry out experiments on the lunar surface for a period of one lunar day which is equal to 14 earth day the main orbit will continue its mission for a year.
The rover has 6 wheels. Out of the back two wheels one has Ashok chakra on it and other has an emblem of ISRO. The ramp of the lander on which rover will come out and land on the moon has an Indian flag on it.
According to ISRO, the lunar south is interesting because the lunar surface area here that remains in shadow is much larger than the north pole and there is a possibility of the presence of water in the shadow area.
The mission objective of Chandrayaan-2 is to develop and demonstrate the key technologies for the end to end lunar capability including soft landing and roving on the lunar surface. the mission aims to further expand the knowledge about the moon through a detailed study of topography, mineralogy, surface chemical composition thermos- physical characteristics and atmosphere leading a better understanding of the moon.
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