Chandrayaan-2 completes one year around the Moon

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On August 20,2020, Chandrayan-2 marked one year of completion of launched by GSLV Mk III- M1 today. The Chandrayan-2 space craft was inserted into lunar orbit on August 20,2019. The orbit carries 8 payloads.

Orbiter of Chandrayaan-2

The orbital is being maintained in 100+/- 25km polar orbit with periodic orbit maintenance (OM) maneuvers.

GSLV Mk III- M1 launch carrying Chandrayaan-2

On-board camera of GSLV Mk III

The eight payloads on the orbiter of Chandrayan-2 are:-

1. Terrain Mapping Camera-2 (TMC-2)
2. Orbiter High Resolution Camera (OHRC)
3. Chandrayan-2 Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer ( CLASS)
4. Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM)
5. Imaging Infra-red Spectrometer (IIRS)
6. Dual Frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar(DFSAR)
7. Chandra’s Atmospheric Composition Explorer-2 ( CHACE-2)
8. Dual Frequency Radio Science Experiment (DFRS)

The data acquired from Chandrayan-2 payloads are being derived for:

• Presence of water-ice in polar regions.
• X-ray based and Infra-red spectroscopic mineral information.
• Mid and high latitudes presence of Argon- 40.

The report on the major findings from Chandrayan-2 science experiments will be publicly release on October 2020.

The Orbiter placed in its orbit around the moon will give us knowledge of the moon’s evolution and mapping of the minerals and water molecules in polar regions, using its 8 state of the art scientific instruments. The Orbiter camera is the highest resolution camera (0.3m) in any lunar mission so far and will provide high resolution images.
The Orbiter has a life of almost seven years.

Images taken by Chandrayaan-2:-

Results:-

1. Topographic mapping using TMC-2

2. Detection of Argon-40 in the lunar exosphere:-
Argon-40, which is one of the isotopes of the noble gases, it is an important of the lunar exosphere.

Origin of Argon-40 on Moon

3. Initial imaging and observations by C-2 Dual Frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar (DF-SAR).

4. Spectroscopic studies of lunar surface.

5. Solar flare observed by the solar X-ray monitor on C-2:-
   Orbital carries two instruments, Chandrayan-2 Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer (CLASS) and Solar X-ray monitor (XSM), to measure the lunar elemental composition.

6. Images from the Orbiter High resolution camera.

7. Studying Earth’s extended magnetosphere plasma around moon:-
The Earth’s magnetosphere is compressed into region approx three to four times the Earth’s radius (~22000km above the surface) on the side facing the sun, but it is stretched into a long tail on the opposite side that goes beyond the orbit of moon.
The CLASS instrument has detected the presence of key elements like Na, Ca, Al, Si, Ti and Fe by using X-ray emission

Magnetosphere of Earth