• Moon and its properties

• Various Missions to Moon

• Chandrayaan - 1
• Chandrayaan - 2

Chandrayaan - 1
Chandrayaan - 1
 CHANDRAYAAN

We have grown up listening to stories and songs about the Moon from our childhood.
According to Indian mythology and culture, Moon holds a unique position in measuring time
through the Lunar calendar. It is a metaphor for beauty and a tool to make the children curious!
As a keen observer and researcher, Moon poses several questions like the origin of the Moon
and its composition. Moon being the nearest celestial body, scientists are interested in studying
it as a launchpad for deeper space exploration or setting up a colony on the Moon.

Chandrayaan mission of ISRO is to provide a platform to explore ‘the Moon’, our natural
satellite, mainly to understand the surface topography and mineralogy of the Moon. Before
going in-depth about Chandrayaan Mission, let us take a close look at Moon.

Physical Characteristics of the Moon

Moon is the Earth’s natural satellite and one of the largest natural satellites in our solar system.

Radius =1,737.4 km
Surface Area = 3.793 x 107 km2
Volume = 2.195 x 108 km3
Mass = 7.342 x 1022 kg
Acceleration due to gravity = 1.62 m/s2

Formation of the Moon

Most of the Lunar formation theories suggest the giant
impact as the most probable beginning of the process
that led to the current Earth-Moon configuration.

The mass of the Moon is equivalent to 12% of that of

Earth's and has large specific angular momentum.
Also, Moon's Roche Radius (the distance it needs to be
farther than, to not fall into the Earth's gravitational pull
and disintegrate) is pretty harmonious to maintain the
current expansion of the lunar orbit by tidal interaction,
and accretion is prevented within this distance too.
Moreover, Earth and the Moon have essentially
identical oxygen isotope compositions. Furthermore,
all these factors along with the iron depletion point out Fig. 1: Layers of the Moon

Chandrayaan - 2
Chandrayaan - 2
towards the giant 'canonical' impact of a differentiated Mars-sized object as being the strongest
competitor among Lunar evolution theories.

Orbital System
The Moon is at an average
distance of 3,84,399 km
from the Earth. The
minimum distance, or the
perigee, is 3,62,600 km,
and the maximum
distance, or the apogee, is
4,05,400 km.
Fig. 2: Moon orbiting the Earth at its Apogee and perigee

Apogee: The furthest point from Earth where a satellite/Moon orbit in an elliptical orbit.
Perigee: The closest point from Earth where a satellite/moon orbit in an elliptical orbit.
Earth or other planets orbiting the Sun, we call it Perihelion and Aphelion.

At an average speed of around 1.022 km/s, Moon takes about 29.5 days to complete one
revolution around the Earth. The Moon rotates at an equatorial rotational speed of about 4.627
m/s around its axis tilted at about 6.687o to its orbital plane.

Did you know?

The Moon and its gravity are the reasons why the Experiences tides. Earth and the Moon are
‘tidally locked so that we can only see one side of the Moon. Lunar orbit it tilted to the ecliptic at
5.145o.

Gravitational Field
The gravitational field strength of the Moon is 1.6 N/kg. It is very less compared to Earth's
gravitational field strength (10 N/kg) due to the mass of the Moon being less. That is why
astronauts can't walk properly on Moon; instead, they jump for each step.

Magnetic Field
Our Moon does not have a global dipolar magnetic field like planets. Instead, it has a crustal
external magnetic field of the Moon somewhere below 0.2 nanoteslas, a hundred-thousandth
lesser than the Earth's. This is because its core has crystallized about a billion years. Since then,
only impacts and plasma clouds have contributed to the Moon's magnetic field.

Atmosphere
The Moon does not have an atmosphere that can be compared to planetary atmospheres because
it has fewer molecules leading them not to circulate and not absorb the radiations. However,
some gases in small quantities and densities were detected around the Moon. And the said
atmosphere of the Moon primarily consists of gases like Neon, Hydrogen and Helium. Small
amounts of Methane, carbon dioxide, ammonia and Argon. The pressure of 3 x 10-15 atm (0.3
nano Pascals) exists on the Moon's surface and depends on day and night.

Chandrayaan - 3
Chandrayaan - 3
Geology
The geology of the Moon is very different from that of the Earth. As there is no considerable
atmosphere, weather-induced soil erosion that happens on Earth does not take place on the
Moon. The Moon’s topography and bathymetric features are based more on its impacts and
volcanism, as there is not much noticeable tectonic activity. The knowledge of the Moon’s
geology has been achieved by various missions, including the satellites, rovers, and even
humans landing on the Moon and getting back some material to be studied.

The Moon’s dust is something that impacts have formed from asteroids and meteorites, and the
dust-grain layer thus formed on the Moon is called the ‘Regolith’. This is a layer of glassy
particles formed by minerals in impact rocks. The composition of the Moon’s surface dust in
the areas that have been explored usually consists of a majority of silica, followed by alumina,
lime, and then a range of metallic oxides.

The Moon has mainly two distinct categories of

topography dividing its landscape. The areas with craters
and other low-lying regions are called the ‘Maria’, along
with the ‘lowlands’, and the hilly risen areas are called
the ‘highlands’. Highlands are anorthosite in nature, with
a majority of plagioclase feldspar in its composition. On
the other hand, Maria is more basaltic with quickly
cooled magnesium and iron-containing lava.

Apart from the Maria and the Highlands, there are

‘Rilles’ formed as a result of lava channels, ‘Wrinkle
Ridges’ resulted from compressive tectonic forces,
‘Domes’ that are volcano heads covered with frozen
lava, Impact Craters, and ‘Grabens’ are formed by Fig. 3: Surface Moon
extensional stress.

Hydrology (Presence of Water)

Water does not exist in a liquid state on the surface of the Moon due to the exposure to solar
radiation along with the negligibly low atmospheric pressure. However, several studies using
probes and spacecraft were done to find traces of ice or any other form of water being present
or left from the past. Finally, Chandrayaan -1, in 2008, confirmed the existence of water by
conducting spectroscopy using its Moon Mineralogy Mapper. Other observations and
experiments like LCROSS, SOFIA, Chandrayaan - 2, etc., have also studied this further.

Various Missions to Moon:

We now know the several exploratory probes and rovers that were and are sent to the Moon.
However, the first such spacecraft that reached the Moon was the 'Luna 2' sent by the Soviet
Space Agency in January 1959, followed by 'Luna 3' later the same year.

After a few unsuccessful attempts, it was 'Ranger 7', in 1964, that finally brought NASA into
the lunar mission race, followed by 'Ranger 8' in 1965 and 'Ranger 9' later that year. This was
followed by successful missions by both NASA and Soviets, like 'Zond', 'Kosmos', 'Surveyor',
'Explorer', 'Soyuz' with flybys, impactors, orbiters, and landers in the 1960s.

Chandrayaan - 4
Chandrayaan - 4
After these, in December 1968, NASA's 'Apollo 8' became the first mission to the Moon, where
three astronauts entered the lunar orbit and returned safely back to Earth, followed by 'Apollo
10' in early 1969. And then, finally, 'Apollo 11', on 16th July 1969, became the first mission to
land on the Moon, as Neil Armstrong became the first person ever to set foot on the Moon,
followed by Buzz Aldrin with Michael Collins in the orbiter. 'Apollo 12' in late 1969, 'Apollo
14' in early 1971, 'Apollo 15' in mid-1971, 'Apollo 16' in early 1972, and 'Apollo 17' in late
1972 were the only other missions with human crew landing on the Moon. After this, no
humans ever set foot on the Moon again, yet.

However, several other missions like further instalments of 'Luna', 'Explorer', etc. along with
newer missions like 'Mariner', 'Geotail', 'WIND', 'SMART', 'Artemis', 'STEREO" 'SELENE',
'WMAP', 'Nozomi', 'Chang'e' were sent throughout the following decades. In this phase, when
Soviets' Luna 17' became the first mission to land a rover successfully, 'Lunokhod1', on the
Moon, after which it sent a few other rovers, like in 'Luna 21', etc. This was followed by
NASA's 'Apollo' missions' rovers that had sample collectors that the human crew brought back
themselves.

In 2008, ISRO joined the Moon exploration with 'Chandrayaan 1' and became the first lunar
orbiter to officially confirm traces of water on the Moon, followed by 'Chandrayaan 2' in 2019.
In 2013, China launched its rover in the 'Chang'e 3' mission, followed by 'Chang'e 4' in 2018,
which became the first spacecraft to soft-land on the far side of the Moon.

While several other missions like 'LCROSS', "Ebb, 'LADEE', 'TESS', 'Queqiao', etc. went on
to the Moon in the 2000s and 2010s, China's 'Chang'e 5' in November 2020 is the last spacecraft
till date, sent to the Moon.
Various space agencies are planning many future missions for landing spacecraft and even for
human crews to orbit and land on the Moon through Dear Moon and Artemis programs,
respectively.

ISRO’s Journey to Moon

Chandrayaan mission of ISRO is to provide a platform to explore 'the Moon', our natural
satellite, mainly to understand the surface topography and mineralogy of the Moon. The term
'Chandrayaan' comes from Sanskrit, which means moon craft. There are two Chandrayaan
Missions realized so far. Chandrayaan - 1 mission is a lunar orbiter and carried an impactor,
whereas Chandrayaan 2 had an orbiter, lander and rover. ISRO plans to launch the
Chandrayaan 3 mission in the later part of 2022.

Chandrayaan - 1:
India's first lunar mission Chandrayaan 1was conceptualized after several discussions among
Indian scientists from various backgrounds like engineering, communication, physics,
chemistry, planetary sciences, astrophysics and astronomy. This group of experts were
formally called the "National Lunar Task Force". The recommendations of this task force
paved the way for India's first lunar mission.

Chandrayaan - 5
Chandrayaan - 5
Launch vehicle used:
Chandrayaan - 1 mission was launched on 22 October 2008 by the
PSLV C11 rocket. ISRO succeeded in placing the Chandrayaan 1 in the
lunar orbit in its maiden attempt, which many world-leading space
agencies failed to achieve. ISRO made an astonishing discovery on the
lunar surface with its impactor-Moon Impact Probe (MIP) launched
with the orbiter which found water on the moon. India is the first
country to discover water on the moon, adding another feather to
ISRO's fame.

Fig. 4: PSLV-C11 launch vehicle lift

off with Chandrayaan - 1.
Mission:
Chandrayaan - 1 carried eleven different scientific instruments, popularly called payloads, with
a wide variety of research interests. Out of these eleven experiments, five were developed
indigenously, and the rest six devices were from various other space agencies worldwide. The
designed mission lifetime of Chandrayaan - 1 was two years.

Payload Applications:
Chandrayaan - 1 mission was designed for high-
resolution chemical and mineralogical mapping and
high-resolution stereographic mapping of the lunar
surface. Along with those mapping instruments, ISRO
wanted to attempt to put an end to the most debated topic
related to the presence of water on the moon. Finally, to
understand the soft landing on the lunar surface for
ISRO’s future landing missions.
Fig. 5: Moon Impact Probe (MIP)

To accomplish these goals, ISRO

developed the following instruments
onboard the orbiter: TMC (Terrain
Mapping Camera), HySI (Hyperspectral
Imager), LLRI (Lunar Laser Ranging
Instrument), HEX (High Energy aj/gamma
x-ray spectrometer), MIP (Moon Impact
Probe).C1XS(Chandrayaan 1X-ray
fluorescence spectrometer), SARA(Sub-
keV Atom Reflecting Analyser), SIR-
2(Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar),
M3(Moon Mineralogy Mapper), Mini-
SAR, RADOM-7(Radiation Dose Monitor
Experiment) are instruments from space
agencies around the world like NASA,
Fig. 6: Digital Elevation of Lunar
JPL, ESA.
Surface generating using TMC.

Chandrayaan - 6
Chandrayaan - 6
 Fig. 7: Lunar Terrain Mapping using TMC

Timeline of mission from earth to moon orbit:

After launching into a transfer orbit, a satellite or spaceship needs to follow a planned
trajectory. For that, necessary rocket firings are made a few minutes at a time to achieve the
required trajectory. Similarly, Chandrayaan 1 was injected into the Moon’s orbit through a
series of orbital firings instead of direct earth to moon orbit trajectory. This technique uses
minimum fuel for achieving the lunar orbit and it uses relatively smaller sized Thruster Engine.
The major drawback of this technique is that it takes a longer duration than the direct orbit
trajectory as it needs to travel longer distances due to multiple orbits around Earth than a single
direct path.

After launching from Sriharikota on October 22, 2008, Chandrayaan 1was inserted in an
elliptical GTO (Geostationary transfer orbit) with an apogee of 22,860 km and a perigee of 255
km.

Fig. 8: Flight path of Chandrayaan – 1

Chandrayaan - 7
Chandrayaan - 7
In astrodynamics or celestial mechanics, the motion of
a body is defined by Kepler's laws of motion and
follows an elliptical orbit. In an elliptical orbit, the
speed of the body around the central body varies
throughout the orbit. The speed will be maximum in
apogee (closer to the central body) and minimum at
apogee (other end of the orbit).

Typically for increasing the altitude, the orbit’s perigee

is maintained constant during the mission profile, and
apogee altitude gradually increased. This is done by
precisely firing spacecraft at the perigee after the
satellite completes one revolution. With each firing the
altitude increases. The process is repeated till the
satellite gets out of the Earth’s gravitational field, also
known as the Earth’s sphere of influence. This phase Fig. 9: Shackleton crater where
Chandrayaan-I’s MIP impacted the lunar
of the mission is called the Geocentric phase. surface

For Chandrayaan 1, the Geocentric phase lasted for 13

days with five firings. In the final firing, Chandrayaan
1entered the region where the influence of the Moon’s
gravity dominates at an earth’s apogee of 380000 km.
The trajectory followed by Chandrayaan 1before it gets
caught in the Lunar sphere of influence is called a Lunar
transfer trajectory.

Chandrayaan - 1 mission was designed to inject the

orbiter into a 100 km circular orbit around the Moon.
This is the opposite of orbit rising where the liquid
apogee motor is fired in the reverse direction to reduce
Fig. 10: Earth as viewed from TMC the speed and the apogee altitude. To achieve the
required orbit, four-orbit reduction firings were done
during its four-day travel around the Moon. Finally, on November 12, 2008, the Chandrayaan
- 1 mission was successfully placed in the lunar orbit with a required altitude of 100 km.

Science results:
Due to the extreme conditions at lunar orbit, the Chandrayaan - 1 mission lasted only for nine
months. Though Chandrayaan 1was functional only for around half of its expected lifetime, it
contributed to several remarkable discoveries and provided valuable data for future lunar
landing missions. The onboard cameras helped to create a three-dimensional map of the lunar
surface and detected signatures of Aluminium, Silicon and Iron elements on the Moon. Lunar
poles and Apollo landing sites were studied for future Indian lunar landing missions.

USA's M3 instrument made by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) was
onboard Chandrayaan - 1 with the capability to detect the water presence on the lunar surface
and lunar atmosphere. M3 was successful in its objective and found hydroxyl ions on the lunar
surface. It also found the water coming from beneath the surface of a crater on the Moon.

Chandrayaan - 8
Chandrayaan - 8
Three months before the USA finding, ISRO has seen signatures of water on the Moon during
the MIP test at the Moon's south pole. Following M3 results, ISRO published the test results
of the MIP, making Chandrayaan - 1 the first observatory to confirm the presence of water on
the Moon.

NASA's M3 instrument confirmed that the Moon was once in a molten state. The images from
Chandrayaan - 1 helped identify the tectonic movements based on the cracks developed on the
lunar surface. Chandrayaan 1discovered an inactive Lunar cave at the equator that supports
human settlement on the Moon. The discovery of potential Lunar caves capable of protection
from radiation, lunar dust, solar flares, and foreign objects' impact on the lunar surface.

DID YOU KNOW?

Moon Impact Probe (MIP) was painted with India’s Tricolour national flag on all four sides. When
MIP hit the lunar surface on 14 November 2008, India became the fourth nation to have its national
flag on the moon.

Chandrayaan - 2

Chandrayaan - 1 discovery of widespread lunar surface hydration brought about a paradigm

shift in our understanding of the volatile inventory of the Moon. However, there remained an
ambiguity as to the detection being hydroxyl radical or water molecule. With the main goal of
resolving the ambiguity and demonstrating landing on the Moon, the follow-up mission to the
Moon was envisaged.
With the success of the Chandrayaan -I mission, it was time to explore the Moon even more
closely. Chandrayaan -1 orbiter gathered data that helped find the potential landing site to
explore the lunar’s mineral distribution and craters to check the possibility of water/ice traps.
The Moon can act as a base for communication and exploration for far human travels.

Furthermore, the Moon has acted as a protective shield for earth since the beginning of the
formation of planets. Craters on the Moon are proof of that. Studying the lunar lithosphere
might throw light over the birth of planets and the Moon. Studies may unravel the mysteries of
lunar caves and underground channels, which might potentially support life. Keeping all this
in mind, ISRO planned to study our natural satellite moon through Chandrayaan - 2.

Launch Vehicle:

Unlike Chandrayaan-1, with the only orbiter,

Chandrayaan-2 also carried a lander and rover
along with the orbiter. Chandrayaan-2's orbiter,
lander-Vikram (named after father of Indian Space
Program), rover-Pragyan (derived from Sanskrit,
which means wisdom) were carried onboard
India's most powerful rocket GSLV MK-III and
was launched on 22 July 2019 from Satish Dhawan
Space Center (SDSC), Sriharikota.
Fig. 11: GSLV MK-III liftoff from
SHAR with Chandrayaan-2
payload.

Chandrayaan - 9
Chandrayaan - 9
Mission & payloads:
The major science goals of the Chandrayaan - 2 mission
are to map the lunar surface, study elemental and
mineral abundance. As we already are aware, the
Chandrayaan – 1 Mission proved the existence of water
on the moon. Chandrayaan - 2 was intended to review
the sites of the moon where hydroxyl and water ice form
on the moon. Another objective is to explore the south
pole permanently shadowed regions of the moon.
Fig. 12: Chandrayaan 2 payload

Scientific Experiments:
The functioning of Chandrayaan - 2's orbiter is almost similar to Chandrayaan-1's orbiter with
additional research instruments. Chandrayaan - 2 's designed lifetime is two years, but it is now
expected to last around 7.5 years after the perfect launch. Orbiter payload includes experiments
to study high-resolution topographic mapping, determination and three-dimensional mapping
of water, hydroxyl, mineral and elemental composition on the lunar surface, the study of lunar
exosphere & ionosphere, and observing the x-rays emitted from the sun and its corona.

Scientific instruments used to carry out mission objectives are

Terrain Mapping Camera-2(TMC-2), Chandrayaan-2 Large
Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer(CLASS), Solar X-ray
Monitor(XSM), Orbiter High-Resolution Camera(OHRC),
Dual Frequency L-band and S-band Synthetic Aperture
Radar(DFSAR), Imaging IR Spectrometer(IIRS),
Chandrayaan-2 Atmospheric Compositional Explorer
2(ChACE-2), Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive
Ionosphere and Atmosphere-Dual Frequency Radio Science
experiment(RAMBHA-DFRS). All the scientific instruments
were developed by ISAC, PRL, SAC, SPL sub-branches of
ISRO. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) manufactured
Fig. 13: Scientific Experiment of the orbiter's structure and delivered it to ISAC, which was
Chandrayaan 2 integrated with all the equipment.

Pragyan is a six-wheeled solar-powered rover with various cameras to provide a 3-dimensional

terrain view of the lunar surface. These cameras help in the motion planning of the rover to
avoid pointy edges and risky zones for the rover.

Pragyan is fitted with Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) and Alpha Particle
Induced X-ray Spectroscope (APXS) used to study the chemical composition of the lunar
surface at the landing site. LIBS was developed by Laboratory for Electro Optic Systems
(LEOS), Bangalore, a Unit of ISRO and APXS was developed by Physics Research Laboratory
(PRL), Ahmedabad. Apart from scientific instruments, out of six wheels, the rear two wheels
have emblems of India and ISRO, which marks on the lunar soil as the rover moves.

Chandrayaan - 10
Chandrayaan - 10
 Fig. 14: Vikram lander over Fig. 15: Pragyan rover along with the
Chandryaan-2 orbiter lander Vikram

Vikram lander's prime objective was to land the rover safely on the moon's south pole. To assist
in safe landing, Vikram is fitted with Laser Altimeter High-Resolution Camera(LASA), Lander
Hazard Detection Avoidance Camera(LHDAC), Lander Position Detection Camera(LPDC),
Lander Horizontal Vertical Camera(LHVC), Radio altimeters, Laser Inertial Reference and
Accelerometer Package(LIRAP), Liquid engine and thrusters. Apart from assisting the
landing, Vikram also has some scientific instruments to study moon seismic activity, surface
temperature and surface ions at the landing site. These are measured by Instrument for Lunar
Seismic Activity (ILSA) developed by LEOS, Chandra's Surface Thermo-physical Experiment
(ChaSTE) developed by SPL (Space Physics Laboratory), VSSC (Vikram Sarabhai Space
Center) and PRL and RAMBHA-LP(Langmuir probe) designed by SPL, VSSC.

Timeline of mission from earth to moon orbit:

Fig. 16: Chadrayaan-2 Flight path

Chandrayaan - 11
Chandrayaan - 11
Chandrayaan - 2 has three different modules which have different lifetimes. Rover Pragyan
and lander Vikram were expected to have a lifetime of 14 days after landing on the Moon. The
Orbiter was expected to be functional for approximately 7.5 years. All three modules of
Chandrayaan - 2 have their own different role in helping humankind reach one step closer to
the Moon.

On 22 July 2019, Chandrayaan - 2 was launched by GSLV MK-III and reached Moon's orbit
on 20 August 2019.

After four days of de-orbiting, during the first phase of landing from 30 km to 7.4 km, Vikram's
onboard computer decreased its descent speed as planned mission profile. In the second phase,
due to some software glitch, Vikram began to deviate from its landing trajectory and lost
contact with ISRO at around 2 km from the lunar surface.

Current Status:
Chandrayaan-2 orbiter is currently around the lunar orbit and providing excellent science data
resulting in several firsts. For example, the OHRC onboard Chandrayaan-2 provides the highest
ever resolution images of Moon.

Glossary:
• Mineralogy - Study of all minerals including it’s physical and chemical properties.
• Stereographic - Projection of circles on a sphere
• Radar - Radio detecting and ranging system which uses waves to detect and determine
distance, angle, or velocity of an object
• Trajectory - Path followed by a flying object under the action of given force
• Astrodynamics - Study of mechanics of celestial bodies
• Apogee - When the moon is furthest distance from earth
• Lithosphere - Rigid outer part of earth consisting of the crust and upper mantle.

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Chandrayaan - 12
Chandrayaan - 12