July 22: On This Day In 2019, Chandrayaan-2 Was Launched By ISRO; Here’s What It Found

On this day in 2019, ISRO launched India's second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 by GSLV MkIII M1.

The launch took place from the Second Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota.

It comprised an Orbiter, Lander and Rover to explore the unexplored South Pole of the Moon.

The spacecraft was inserted into lunar orbit on August 20, 2019. The Chandrayaan-2 mission was India's first attempt to land on the lunar surface. However, the lander Vikram hard-landed in September 2019.

Then ISRO chief K Sivan had said that the Chandrayaan-2 mission has achieved 98% of its objectives.

According to information on ISRO's website, the Moon provides the best linkage to Earth’s early history. It offers an undisturbed historical record of the inner Solar system environment.

Though there are a few mature models, further explanations were needed to understand the origin of the Moon. Extensive mapping of lunar surface to study variations in the lunar surface were essential to trace back the origin and evolution of the Moon.

Evidence for water molecules discovered by Chandrayaan-1 required further studies on the extent of water molecule distribution on the surface, below the surface and in the tenous lunar exosphere to address the origin of water on Moon.

The Lunar South pole is especially interesting because of the lunar surface area that remains in shadow is much larger than that at the North Pole. There could be a possibility of presence of water in permanently shadowed areas around it. In addition, the South Pole region has craters that are cold traps and contain a fossil record of the early Solar System.

Chandrayaan-2 detected the presence of water molecules on the moon, data obtained from the mission revealed, as per a PTI report.

In a paper co-authored by A S Kirankumar, former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman, said imaging infrared spectrometre (IIRS) is one of the payloads on-board Chandrayaan-2, which is placed in a 100 km polar orbit to acquire global scientific data.

"The initial data analysis from IIRS, clearly demonstrates the presence of widespread lunar hydration and unambiguous detection of OH and H2O signatures on the Moon between 29°N and 62°N lat., after incorporating physics-based thermal correction to reflectance data," the paper which was published in Current Science journal said.

Plagioclase-rich rocks have been found to have higher OH (hydroxyl) or possibly H2O (water) molecules when compared to the mare regions, which were found to have more dominance of OH at higher surface temperatures, it said.

Meanwhile, ISRO on Thursday successfully performed the fourth orbit-raising manoeuvre (Earth-bound perigee firing) of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft from the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru.

The next firing is planned for July 25 between 2 pm and 3 pm, the national space agency headquartered in Bengaluru said.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon was launched on July 14.

(With PTI inputs)