The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is working on a plan of action to figure out how to attempt a soft landing on the Moon. ISRO will pull all its experience, knowledge and technical prowess to set things right and demonstrate soft landing on Moon in the near future. So the mission is not the end of story. ISRO’s plans on the Aditya L1 solar mission & human spaceflight programme are on track and a huge number of advance satellite launches are planned in the coming months.
Meanwhile, ISRO will do everything to demonstrate soft landing of its satellite on Moon, ISRO’s Chairman K. Sivan asserted on Nov 2 while addressing the 50th convocation ceremony of IIT Delhi, nearly two months after such an attempt of Chandrayaan-2 failed. K. Sivan, who had become emotional after the Chandrayaan-2 landing failed on September 7, adding that ISRO is working on a plan of action to figure out how to attempt a soft landing on the Moon.
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“Yes, we could not achieve a soft landing, but all the systems functioned until 300 metre from the Moon”s surface. But currently we have very valuable data to set things right,”. “Let me assure you that ISRO will pull all its experience, knowledge and technical prowess to set things right and demonstrate soft landing on Moon in the near future,”. “We are working on a plan of action to go ahead with Vikram Lander landing,”. He added.
What was supposed to be India’s first soft landing on Moon, the Chandrayaan-2 mission ended in failure when the robotic Vikram lander seemingly crashed into the lunar surface. Had it been successful, India would have become the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the Moon. Rover Pragyaan would have then explored the lunar surface for one lunar day (around 14 Earth days). ISRO’s Chairman remarked.
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However, The space agency described this and also explained the several technological aspects attached to the same. The success criteria was defined for each and every phase of the mission and till date more than 95% of the mission goals have been accomplished and will continue contribute to Lunar science, not with standing the loss of contact with the Vikram Lander. Thus, Only 5% of the mission has been lost – Vikram the lander and Pragyan the rover – while the remaining 95% – that is the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter – is orbiting the moon successfully.
The major intention of Chandrayaan-2 mission are to demonstrate the ability to soft-land on the lunar surface and operate a robotic rover on the surface. Scientific goals include studies of lunar topography, mineralogy, elemental abundance, the lunar exosphere, and signatures of hydroxy and water ice.. Hence, Indian Scientists is working on a plan of action to figure out how to attempt a soft landing on the Moon.
Despite the same, Chandrayaan-2 is the second Indian lunar mission to continue the studies on the origin and evolution of the Moon. At present, the orbiter is in a 100km polar orbit around the Moon and all science payloads are operational. Data is being analysed by the respective payload teams and initial results have been released on the ISRO website.
Consequently, Speaking at the convocation ceremony at IIT Delhi, the ISRO chief also reminded the world that Chandrayaan-2 might have failed, but the Indian space agency was on track with some other missions, including India’s solar mission titled Aditya L-1 and a human spaceflight programme etc. On 50th convocation ceremony of IIT Delhi, ISRO and IIT Delhi signed an MoU to jointly set up Space Technology Cell at the campus of the institute.
The cell will work for carrying out focused research projects in the space technology domain with specific deliverables. It is also proposed that IIT, Delhi as an Institute becomes the academic partner of ISRO in research areas, for example, Artificial Intelligence, Nano-technology, functional textiles, smart manufacturing or any area of joint interest.
Author: Trilok Singh, MA in Political Science from Kirori Mal College, DU. Currently studies at ISOMES (NEWS 24, BAG Network). Founder and CEO here and IASmind.com.
