Chandrayaan 2’s journey from ideation to the cusp of landing: A timeline

Chandrayaan-2 is about to begin its final descent to pull off a historic soft landing on the lunar surface.

The India’s second moon mission has gone through a long journey dotted with many events in close to 12 years since being conceived in 2007.

Starting from Chandrayaan 1, here’s a list of all the major events that led Chandrayaan-2 to where it is today:

April 2003

Over 100 eminent Indian scientists in the fields of planetary and space sciences, Earth sciences, physics, chemistry, astronomy, astrophysics and engineering and communication sciences discuss and approve the Task Force recommendation to launch a probe to the moon.

August 15, 2003

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announces the Chandrayaan mission during his Independence Day speech.

November 2003

The government gives its approval for the moon mission.

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ISRO tech to detect illegal sand mining, augment water in forests: Govt

Plans are afoot to detect illegal sand-mining across the country with the help of ISRO satellites and also augment water and fodder in forest areas to prevent man-animal conflict, Union Environment and Forest Minister Prakash Javadekar said Saturday.

The government plans to use satellite image technology by ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) to map every area and river to check illegal sand-mining. Javadekar said this to reporters at Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology (SACON), near here.

“With the help of ISRO technology, we will know where the sand is deposited and the government could auction it, thereby the mafia is avoided and a sustainable sand-mining will be in place,” he said in response to a question on sand-mining, which has become a major challenge. To another question on increasing man-human conflict due to encroachment of forest area, particularly elephant corridor and not abiding by HACA (Hill Area Conservation Authority) rules in Western Ghats, Javdekar said the farmers had told him that unless enough water and fodder was provided, the conflict would continue. Read Complete Article

Chandrayaan-2: 2nd orbit-raising smooth, expected to reach Moon on Aug 20

Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) successfully conducted the second Earth-bound orbit raising maneuver for the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft.

Isro officials said that second maneuver has been performed successfully on Friday at 0108 hours (IST) as planned, using the onboard propulsion system for a firing duration of 883 seconds. The orbit achieved was 251 x 54829 km. All spacecraft parameters were normal.

The third orbit raising maneuver is scheduled on July 29, 2019, between 1430–1530 hours (IST).

India’s second mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-2, is expected to reach the Moon on August 20, 2019.

The first earth-bound orbit raising maneuver for Chandrayaan-2 was performed successfully on July 24, 2019, at 1452 hours (IST) as planned. Read Complete Article

PSLV-C46 takes off successfully with India’s earth observation satellite

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro’s) workhorse PSLV-C46, carrying RISAT-2B, a radar-imaging earth observation satellite, took off successfully from the Sriharikota space port. The satellite will beef up India’s surveillance capabilities in the sky.

After a successful countdown that started at 04:30 a.m. (IST) on Tuesday, the rocket was launched at 05:30 a.m. on Wednesday early morning as scheduled from the the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, near Chennai.

About 15 minutes into flight, the rocket placed RISAT-2B into an orbit of about 555 km.

Stating that he was extremely happy to announce that PSLV-C46 has successfully injected RISAT-2B in precise orbit, Isro chairman K Sivan said with this mission, the PSLV rocket had crossed the landmark of lofting of 50 tonnes since it started flying. Adding that the PSLV satellite has put into orbit 350 satellites, he said, “The rocket had a piggy back payload, the indigenously developed Vikram computer chip that will be used in the future rockets.”

PSLV-C46 is the 48th mission of PSLV and the 14th flight in ‘core-alone’ configuration (without the use of solid strap-on motors). This is the 72nd launch vehicle mission from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota and 36th launch from the First Launch pad. Read Complete Article