India launches Chandrayaan-2 to touch down on the lunar surface
I hope most of Indians would have known that earlier today, India sent a spacecraft called Chandrayaan-2 to land on the lunar surface. However, three nations have already made successful landing on the surface of the moon. If India could also make successful landing, it would become the fourth nation to touch down on the surface of the moon.
Before Chandrayaan-2, India has already sent Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 which used to orbit around the moon. It collected valuable data which helped scientists know about the moon’s South Pole which may contain water ice.
Now India wants to discover how much water ice is hidden on the South Pole of the moon. But it is not possible until they touch down on the lunar surface. And so Chandrayaan-2 is created. It will spend 14 days on the moon and discover the amount of water ice in the moon’s South Pole. According to scientists, if enough water ice is found there, it could help to fulfill the requirement of drinking water or fuel for spacecraft. The lander will also try to study the composition of the lunar surface. I think Chandrayaan-2 could discover valuable data on the South Pole of the moon.
“It is the beginning of a historical journey of India towards the Moon and to land at a place near the south pole,” Kailasavadivoo Sivan, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), said during a speech after today’s launch, “To carry out scientific experiments; to explore the unexplored.”
Chandrayaan-2 includes an orbiter which will move around the moon, a lander called Vikram – I think it will touch down on the lunar surface, and a rover named Pragyan – it may travel on the moon to collect data in the South Pole.