ISRO : Attaining new heights

A unique mission

Even though the significant 47 days journey of Indian pride Chandrayaan -2 which did not create history is the first bold Lunar mission in the world to explore the dark side of the moon. Chandrayaan-2 mission was a highly complex mission, which represented a significant technological leap compared to the previous missions of ISRO, which brought together an Orbiter, Lander and Rover to explore the unexplored south pole of the Moon. Since the launch of Chandrayaan-2 on July 22, 2019, not only India but the whole world watched its progress from one phase to the next with great expectations and excitement. This was a unique mission which aimed at studying not just one area of the Moon but all the areas combining the exosphere, the surface as well as the sub-surface of the moon in a single mission.
The Orbiter has already been placed in its intended orbit around the Moon and will enrich more understanding of the moon’s evolution and mapping of the minerals and water molecules in the Polar Regions, using its eight state-of-the-art scientific instruments. The Orbiter camera is the highest resolution camera (0.3m) in any lunar mission so far and shall provide high resolution images which will be immensely useful to the global scientific community.
The precise launch and mission management has ensured a long life of almost 7 years instead of the planned one year. The Vikram Lander followed the planned descent trajectory from its orbit of 35 km to just below 2 km above the surface. All the systems and sensors of the Lander functioned excellently until this point and proved many new technologies such as variable thrust propulsion technology used in the Lander.
The success criteria was defined for each and every phase of the mission and till date 90 to 95 per cent of the mission objectives have been accomplished and will continue contribute to Lunar science , notwithstanding the loss of communication with the Lander.

Modi, a hug and ISRO Spirit

PM Modi's emotional
moment with ISRO chief Prime Minister Narendra Modi who sat through the entire proceedings of the operation of Chandrayaan- 2, ISRO’s pride Moon Mission, has made possible the failure as a success. His presence at the ISTRAC, a perception change has helped the scientific c o m m u n i t y overcome the disappointment for the loss of communication with lander Vikram but sourced this as a major success as a mission. This gesture gave team ISRO a morale booster a need of the hour.
The image of Prime Minister’s hug of sobbing, disappointed and heartbroken ISRO chief K Sivan which went viral has taken the ISRO’s image to a new height. The social media was full of praises for ISRO and Modi for his encouragement to the team ISRO. This has put ISRO on a new pedestal making moon mission a success. Modi who was there with the team ISRO along with country’s top scientists lauded the success of Chandrayaan -2 and motivated them to continue their work in their space missions. Addressing the scientific community, he said “ There are ups and downs in life. This is not a small achievement. The nation is proud of you. Hope for the best. I congratulate you. You all have done a big service to nation, science and mankind. I am with you all the way, move forward bravely. Hope for the best”.

Prime Minister Modi the day after his visit to ISRO at a political rally at Rohtak in Haryana recollected the achievements of ISRO and moon mission called it’s the spirit of ISRO a concept united the nation in supporting the endeavour of the team ISRO. This again went viral in the social media making moon mission a mission of the nation but not a failed mission. He was addressing a mammoth crowd at his Vijay Sankalp rally.

Modi said "Just like there is a sportsman spirit, now there is ISRO spirit. Those 100 seconds showed that people no longer accept mediocrity. People now want change. Those 100 seconds have changed the definition of success." “There was a new kind of wonder on September 7, when people of the country were glued to their televisions at 1:46 am. At 1:50, people watched TV in anticipation that the mission will be a success. Those 100 seconds, awakened the entire nation," PM Modi defined this as the ISRO spirit. He also said a total number of 38 soft landing attempts have been made, so far with a success rate of 52 per cent.

Highlights

• Moon provides the best linkage to Earth’s early history. It offers an undisturbed historical record of the inner Solar system environment. Though there are a few mature models, the origin of the Moon still needs further explanations. Extensive mapping of the lunar surface to study variations in lunar surface composition is essential to trace back the origin and evolution of the Moon.
• Evidence for water molecules discovered by Chandrayaan-1, requires further studies on the extent of water molecule distribution on the surface, below the surface and in the tenuous lunar exosphere to address the origin of water on Moon.

The lunar South Pole is especially interesting because of the lunar surface area here that remains in shadow are much larger than that at the North Pole. There is a possibility of the presence of water in permanently shadowed areas around it. In addition, South Pole region has craters that are cold traps and contain a fossil record of the early Solar System.

The Chandrayaan-2 has achieved 95 per cent of its mission objectives, the lander's unsuccessful bid to touch-down on the Lunar surface notwithstanding. And this all thanks to the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter.

Chandrayaan-2 lander which failed to land made up only 5 per cent of mission 95 per cent of the mission will be carried out by orbiter which is successfully in its place. Orbiter can take pictures of the moon and send them to ISRO.

The Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft comprised three segments the Orbiter (weighing 2,379 kg, eight payloads), 'Vikram' (1,471 kg, four payloads) and 'Pragyan' (27 kg, two payloads).

Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III, or the GSLV Mk-III, the biggest and most powerful rocket in India's space garage carried with it the orbiter, lander and rover. The GSLV Mk-III successfully launched the orbiter. The spacecraft proved itself worthy of the title "Bahubali".

(Source ISRO and other agencies)

“It is a big achievement”

Asked how he looked at the Indian Moon mission -2, former ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair told Power Politics,

G Madhavan “There is a slight disappointment at the final event. If you look at the overall scenario, there are several elements in this. One, is using GSLV MK- 3 being used for the first time. It has gone on very well and has performed beyond what we expected. It’s the first time we are orbiting at 100 km continuously. Orbiter has got 8-9 very complicated instruments on board and its mission can be completely carried out. Even the lander, I don’t call it a complete failure. It is a big achievement coming near the moon’s surface. The final image that was taken shows that it fell 500 mts from away from where we had originally intended for it to land. Only the last event, that part got into trouble. Overall it was 95 per cent successful.”

On the manned mission to the moon and other space missions, he said,

“We are planning immediate manned mission to go around the earth. It is going well, we are working on it. This mission is totally independent of Chandrayaan . The only common element is that we are going to use GSLV MK- 3. The activities for the earth mission are also completely new.”

On foreign agency responses, Nair said,

“They know the complexity involved through their own experience. With respect to that they said India has crossed a big milestone. That’s a global recognition for the Indian programme.”

World Media reaction

Foreign media has applauded ISRO in its daring effort to explore the moon on its south pole. It proves Indian space venture and supremacy in space.

According to the US online edition of the magazine “Wired”, “ all is not lost for the for the mission. "The loss of the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover it was carrying to the lunar surface would be a big blow for India's space program...But all is not lost for the mission," Wired reported.

New York Times said “India's "engineering prowess and decades of space development have combined with its global ambitions." However, while referring to Chandrayaan-2 lander's inability to soft land on the lunar surface as a "partial failure", The New York Times wrote, "an orbiter remains in operation - would delay the country's bid to join an elite club of nations that have landed in one piece on the moon's surface."

French daily, “ Le Monde” mentioned the success rate of soft landing on the moon, but in percentage. It said, "So far, scientists point out, only 45 per cent of missions aimed at alleviating have been successful."

Le Monde started its article with the words "A broken dream" and said that the Indian newspapers "were quick to titrate their websites, after announcing the worse scenario that could expect the Indian Space Research Organization..." The website quoted an expert from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) who had said, "Imagine a spaceship crossing the space at a speed ten times faster than an airplane, and almost stopping to land softly on the Earth - all in minutes and, more importantly, without any human intervention."

"The ship Chandrayaan-2 will have known a hard destiny," the website further added mentioning the first attempt to liftoff Chandrayaan-2 on July 15, the plan was aborted after ISRO cited a "technical snag" as the reason to stop the countdown just 56 minutes before the take off.

British newspaper, “The Guardian”, in its article titled “India's moon landing suffers lastminute communications loss,” quoted Mathieu Weiss, a representative in India for France's space agency CNES, as saying, "India is going where probably the future settlements of humans will be in 20 years, in 50 years, 100 years."

The Washington Post wrote, 'India loses contact with its lander as it attempted to land on the moon' as its header. "The incident could now set back India's growing space ambitions, seen as a reflection of the aspirations of its young population," the article read.

The American daily further said, "Of the 38 softlanding attempts made on the moon, only about half have succeeded... India had hoped its Chandrayaan-2 mission would make it the fourth nation to land on the moon after the United States, Russia and China."

India's historic landing on moon's polar surface may have failed-- was the headline of the CNN. "The control room in the city of Bengaluru filled with scientists underwent a visible change as updates from the lander faded. The crowd had celebrated every small step during the controlled descent and at 1:55 a.m. local time on Saturday, the moment the landing was expected to take place, silence descended," CNN reported referring to the silence that stuck the mission operations complex at the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network in Bengaluru after the despair flared through faces of the scientists.

Namira Salim Namira Salim, the first Pakistani woman astronaut, has congratulated the Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) on the Chandrayaan2 mission and its historic attempt to make a landing on the Moon.
In a statement to digital science magazine Scientia, Salim said “I congratulate India and ISRO on its historic attempt to make a successful soft landing of the Vikram Lander at the South Pole of the Moon.
“The Chandaryaan 2 lunar mission is indeed a giant leap for South Asia which not only makes the region but the entire global space industry proud,” she added.

Salim further said, “Regional developments in the Space sector in South Asia are remarkable and no matter which nation leads — in space, all political boundaries dissolve and in space — what unites us, overrides, what divides us on Earth.”

She is the first Pakistani to have travelled to the North and South poles and the first Asian to skydive (in tandem) from Mount Everest. Salim hoisted a peace flag on behalf of the nation at the two poles of the world.

(Source : newspapers and agencies)