The precise launch and mission management of Chandrayaan2 has ensured that the Orbiter has a long life of almost seven years instead of the planned one year.
About 12 hours after the Vikram Lander setback, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) came out of silence to announce that “The Orbiter camera is the highest resolution camera (0.3m) in any lunar mission so far and shall provide high resolution images which will immensely be useful to the global scientific community.”
Now ISRO is keen to pursue the Orbiter which is going around the Moon. “The Orbiter has already been placed in its intended orbit around the Moon and is expected to enrich our understanding of the moon’s evolution and mapping of the minerals and water molecules in the Polar Regions, using its eight modern scientific instruments.”
Earlier in the day, the Vikram Lander followed the planned descent trajectory from its orbit of 35 km to just below 2 km above the surface. All the systems and sensors of the Lander functioned excellently until this point and proved many new technologies such as variable thrust propulsion technology used in the Lander.
“The success criteria was defined for each and every phase of the mission and till date 90 to 95 per cent of the mission objectives have been accomplished and will continue contribute to Lunar science, notwithstanding the loss of communication with the Lander,” explained ISRO.
Complex Mission
Chandrayaan2 mission a highly complex mission, which represented a significant technological leap compared to the previous missions of ISRO, which brought together an Orbiter, Lander and Rover to explore the unexplored south pole of the Moon.
Since the launch of Chandrayaan2 on July 22 not only India but the whole world watched its progress from one phase to the next with great expectations and excitement. This was a unique mission which aimed at studying not just one area of the Moon but all the areas combining the exosphere, the surface as well as the sub-surface of the moon in a single mission.