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

Aryabhata: 1st Indian Satellite in Space

Aryabhata

The Aryabhata, named after the famous Indian astronomer , was India's first satellite. It was completely designed and fabricated in India and launched by a Soviet Kosmos-3M rocket from Kapustin Year on April 19, 1976. It was built by ISRO.

It was build to conduct experiment s in X-ray astronomy, aeromics and solar physics. The spacecraft was a26-sided polyhedron, 1.4 m (4.6 ft) in diameter. All faces (expect top and bottom) were covered with solar cells. The satellite remain we active till March 1981. Due to orbital decay the satellite Earth's atmosphere on 11th February, 1992.

Mission type: Astrophysics

Operator: ISRO

Launch weight: 360 kg 

Rocket: Kosmos-3M

Refence system: Geocentric

Regime: Low Earth Orbit

Perigee altitude: 563 km

Apogee altitude: 619 km

Period: 96.46 minutes

Images taken by Astosat

Images taken by Astrosat 

Astrosat is India's 1st dedicated multi-wavelenght space telescope. It was launched on a PSLV-XL on 28th September 2015.

Images:-

1. Crab Nebula in X-ray 

2. Near-UV (left) and Far-UV (right) images of the Globular Cluster NGC 1851, taken by UVIT onboard Astrosat 

3. NGC 2808

4. Open cluster M67, The BSS-White Dwarf pais WOCS1007 is circled in red

5. Near-UV images of NGC 2336

6. Dwarf Galaxy Wolf- Lundmark- Melotte (WLM)

Launch Vehicles of ISRO

  Launch Vehicles of ISRO 

There are 5 types of launch vehicles developed by ISRO, in which 2 have been retired (GSLV  Mk I, a variant of GSLV have also been retired) & 3 are in service.

There are 3 launch vehicles currently used by ISRO:

PSLV, GSLV Mk II, GSLV Mk III 

1. Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV):

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is an expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed and operated by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It is the third generation launch vehicle of India. It is the 1st Indian launch vehicle to be equipped with liquid stages. After its first successful launch in October 1994, PSLV emerged as the reliable and versatile workhorse  launch vehicle of India with 39 consequently successful missions  by June 2017.

    Some notable payload launch by PSLV include India's 1st lunar probe, Chandrayaan-1, India's 1st interplanetary mission, Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) & India's 1st space observatory, Astrosat.

   As of December 2019, PSLV has launched 319 foreign satellites from 33 countries. On 15th February 2017, PSLV C37 had successfully developed 104 satellite in sun- synchronous orbit.

  As of December 2019, the PSLV has made 50 launches with 47 successfully reaching their planned orbits, 2 outright failure and 1 partial failure, yielding a success rate of  94%.

Vehicle Specification 

 Height: 44 m

Diameter: 2.8 m

Number of Stages: 4

Lift off Mass: 320 tonnes (XL)

Variants: 5(PSLV-G, PSLV-CA, Pslv-XL, PSLV-DL, PSLV-QL)

First Flight: 10th September, 1993

Technical Specifications 

Payload to LEO: 3800 kg

Payload to SSO: 1750 kg

Payload to Sub GTO: 1425 kg

Payload to GTO: 1200 kg

2. Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV)

GSLV is an expendable medium- lift launch vehicle operated by ISRO. It is the 4th generation launch vehicle of India. It is a three stage vehicle  with four liquid strap-ons. The indigenously developed cryogenic engine, forms the third stage.

South Asia Satellite is a notable payload launched by GSLV, the satellite is in service with all SAARC countries (except Pakistan).

GSLV was used in 13 launches from 2001 to 2018, with more launches panned in future. Is has 8 successful launches, 2 partial failure & 3 failure, with a overall success rate of 61%.

GSLV Mk I had a success rate of 33% & GSLV Mk II has a success rate of 85%.

Vehicle  Specification:

Height: 49.13 m

Diameter: 2.8 m

Number of stages: 3

Lift off Mass: 414.75 tonnes 

Variant: GSLV Mk I (retired)

              GSLV Mk II (in service)

First flight: 18th April, 2001

Technical Specifications:

Payload to LEO: 5000 kg

Payload to GTO: 2700 kg

3. GSLV Mark III 

The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk III) also known as the Launch Vehicle Mark 3 (LVM 3) is a three stage expandable medium- lift launch vehicle developed by ISRO. It is primarily designed to launch communication satellites into geostationary orbit, it is also developed as a launch vehicle for crewed mission under the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. 

Notable payloads  launched by GSLV MkIII are CARE (Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Equipment) & Chandrayaan-2, India's 2nd lunar mission.

In future it will be used to carry Gaganyaan, the first crew mission under Indian Human Spaceflight Programme.

The 1st state consists of two S200 solid motors, also known as Large Solid Boosters (LSB) attached to the core stage. The 2nd stage, L110 is a liquid- fuelled stage, it is powered by two Vikas 2 engines. The cryogenic upper stage, C25, it is powered by CE-20 engine.

GSLV Mk III has made 4 launches with 4 successful launches, with a success rate of 100%.

 

Vehicle Specifications:

Height: 43.4 m

Diameter: 4 m

Number of stages: 3

Lift off Mass: 640 tonnes 

First flight: 18th December, 2014

Technical Specifications:

 

Payload to LEO: 10000 kg

Payload to GTO: 4000 kg