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Chandrayaan-2 India's Daring Moon Mission

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Chandrayaan-2 India's Daring Moon Mission COVER STORY Chandrayaan-2 India’s Daring Moon Mission Biman Basu 14 | Science Reporter | November 2019 Fifteen Minutes of Terror This was, however, not entirely unexpected. Chandrayaan-2 was an extremely complex mission the like of which ISRO had never tried before. The critical manoeuvre of soft landing lasting 15 minutes was what the ISRO Chairman K. Sivan had described as “Fifteen minutes of terror”. It was to be an ‘autonomous powered descent’ to the lunar surface and was the most difficult part of the whole mission. Since it involved intricate and rapid changes in the velocity and flight path of the lander, the entire manoeuvre was controlled by the spacecraft’s onboard computer, without any guidance from the ground. The time-lag to execute Artist’s impression of Chandrayaan-2 in commands from the Earth to the Moon Moon orbit ruled out ISRO’s mission control centre in Bengaluru controlling the lander’s descent. AST 1:00 a.m. on 7 September As minutes ticked by and powered 2019, millions in India and across descent of the lander was initiated, Before the descent began, Vikram P the world had their eyes glued everything seemed all right. The lander was travelling at a speed of about to their TV screens in expectation of followed the assigned path. But in 6,000 km per hour at a height of 35 a grand finale to India’s 48-day-old the end, the expected did not happen. km. But within minutes, not only was Chandrayaan-2 mission – a soft landing Seconds before the landing, contact was the spacecraft’s velocity to be brought by the lander Vikram that would set a lost with the lander without any clue as down, but also the direction of its motion new landmark in India’s 56-year-old to what happened to it. gradually changed from horizontal to space programme. vertical in a controlled manner to enable VIKRAM DESCENT TRAJECTORY Deviation Altitude (km) Fine Braking Phase Down Range (km) The descent trajectory of Vikram lander showing the deviation (arrow) where contact with the lander was lost November 2019 | Science Reporter | 15 Chandrayaan-2 lunar soft landing sequence After Chandrayaan-2 achieved a final orbit of about 100 km from the surface of the moon, the Vikram lander separated from the composite module on September 2 to begin its descent onto the moon. The orbiter will continue to revolve around the moon and conduct missions for about a year. Separation 100 km above lunar surface Vikram lander separates from the orbiter near the North Pole Deboost phase The lander travelling at about 1.6 km/s undergoes de-orbiting maneuvers using thruster burns Powered descent Rough braking phase Once the lander is hovering above the As the lander reaches a landing site, the four point closest to the Moon engines are shut off. A near the South Pole, further central thruster is used to de-boost burns are used for slowly reduce the vertical horizontal braking of the velocity for a soft landing. 6 km above lander using four thrusters engines. The central thruster lunar surface ensures that the lunar dust is blown away from the site without letting it cloud the lander after the touchdown. A few hours after landing and scanning the surrounding area, the Vikram lander’s ramp will open to deploy the Precision braking phase Pragyan rover. Using the throttle control in the thruster engines, the lander is slowly prepared for vertical descent. 13 m above The lander scans the lunar lunar surface surface and compares the topography with onboard imagery. It then makes the required calibrations and decides the final safe site for soft landing. Lunar dust Source: Indian Space Research Organization Diagrammatic representation of the lunar soft-landing sequence 16 | Science Reporter | November 2019 landing at a pre-determined spot between three-dimensional map of the Moon hours after landing. It was designed two craters dubbed Manzinus C and and analysing its mineral composition. to study the lunar surface from close Simpelius N, about 600 km from the quarters after rolling out and had a While it did not complete its mission lunar south pole. total range of 500 metres. Both Vikram life of two years, the Chandrayaan-1 and Pragyan are solar-powered and The soft-landing sequence was mission had several achievements. It were designed to work for 14 days, divided into three distinct phases that was the first interplanetary mission for equivalent to one lunar day. were meant to steadily decelerate the ISRO and heralded the way for other lander and reduce its altitude till it missions to follow, including one to Chandrayaan-2 was ISRO’s first reached near-zero at touchdown. To Mars, and the present Chandrayaan-2 inter-planetary mission designed to carry out the entire manoeuvre, Vikram mission. Its most significant scientific land a rover on any celestial body. was equipped with a cluster of five achievement was the discovery of water ISRO had planned to land the rover engines that were supposed to perform on the Moon. near the Moon’s south pole because specific pre-programmed functions. it is a “very tricky area” with rocks formed a million years ago. It has very Everything seemed to go well as the Chandrayaan-2 old rocks the study of which could first phase called the ‘Rough Braking Chandrayaan-2 consisted of three possibly help us understand the origin Phase’ got underway when four of the components: the orbiter, the lander and of the universe. Another reason behind five rockets employed for decelerating the rover. The lander was named Vikram landing the rover near the lunar south the spacecraft performed perfectly in honour of Dr Vikram Sarabhai, who pole was that the area has not been as planned, ensuring a steady loss of is considered the Father of India’s space explored by other missions. Most of altitude. At the end of 10 minutes and 20 programme. The six-wheeled rover was the lunar missions in the past have seconds, the large consoles at the ISRO named Pragyan, meaning ‘wisdom’ and explored the area around the equator control room indicated that all was going was designed to roll out of Vikram a few of the Moon. smoothly. The speed of Vikram was down to 22 km per hour and its altitude was 7 km. The descent trajectory of the lander, Why was Chandrayaan-2 Delayed? as displayed on the large screen at the Chandrayaan-2 was conceived in 2007, well before the ISRO control centre in Bengaluru and launch of Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 and was originally watched by TV viewers around the scheduled to be launched in 2011. Originally, Chandrayaan-2 world, perfectly matched the planned was supposed to be a joint collaborative mission between trajectory till the lander was about 2 India and Russia. ISRO was to provide the rocket, the orbiter kilometres above the lunar surface when and the lander and the rover were to come from Russia’s suddenly, deviating from the planned Roscosmos space agency. ISRO did not have the capability trajectory, the graph showed a deviation to build its own lander and rover at that time. and a steep drop when contact with the However, Russia had to eventually pull itself out in 2012 lander was lost. From the graph, it from the collaboration because the kind of lander that it appeared that Vikram had landed, but was preparing to send on Chandrayaan-2 developed a probably it didn’t make a soft landing. problem on its Phobos-Grunt mission to the Martian moon The unexpected end was a big Phobos. Although Roscosmos did make design corrections, disappointment for ISRO scientists the new proposed design was found to be incompatible and millions others who were eagerly with Chandrayaan-2. awaiting a perfect landing after a ISRO was left with no option but to develop its own flawless flight from Earth. lander and rover through R&D. This set the mission back by several years, although it allowed the Chandrayaan-2 that Chandrayaan-1 took off in July 2019 to be a totally home-grown product. The first Indian Moon mission The delay also provided ISRO additional time to improve Chandrayaan-1 was launched on 22 on the design of the main spacecraft. October 2008 and included an orbiter and The current Chandrayaan-2 composite module is a far a Moon impact probe – a small module superior design and incorporates several additional safety that separated from the orbiter and features that would have not been possible in the original crashed on the Moon near Shackleton design that was scheduled to be launched in 2011. crater. The orbiter included several scientific instruments for creating a November 2019 | Science Reporter | 17 To prepare for Chandrayaan-2 Women to the Fore landing, ISRO had created artificial A unique feature of the Chandrayaan-2 mission is that it lunar craters as part of hazard avoidance and landing tests. The simulation tests was led by two women. on Chandrayaan-2 components were Muthayya Vanitha, carried out at centres in Bengaluru, Project Director of Mahendragiri and Chitradurga in Chandrayaan-2, is Karnataka. an electronics system Chandrayaan-2 was ISRO’s first engineer who, apart attempt to soft-land a craft on lunar from being the first-ever soil and involved a very complex set female project director of manoeuvres, including separation of of ISRO, has worked as the lander Vikram carrying the rover deputy project director Pragyan on-board from the orbiter and for Cartosat-1 and guiding it down to the lunar surface. It Oceansat-2 and Megha- was a lunar mission that was designed to go where no country had ever gone Tropiques satellites.
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