Chandrayaan-2 soft landing on Moon All you need to know

Chandrayaan-2's Vikram Lander will make a soft landing on the surface of the Moon tonight.

Gorky Bakshi

Sep 6, 2019 10:44 IST

Representative Image: ISRO

Chandrayaan-2 is scheduled to make its soft landing on the Moon between 1.30 am to 2.30 am tonight. ISRO has explained that Vikram lander carries three scientific payloads to conduct scientific experiments on the Moon. Chandrayaan-2 has mainly three parts – Orbiter, Vikram Lander and Pragyan Rover.

Chandrayaan-2 has travelled around 3,84,000 km and now the Vikram lander is just 35 km above the Moon's surface. Chandrayaan-2 will enhance the understanding of Moon for explorers, scientists and common people. Scientists believe that many new figures can be found through this lunar mission.

Timings

The Vikram lander will land on the south pole of the moon between 1.30 and 2.30 am on Friday-Saturday night. Rover Pragyan from Vikram will come out between 5.30 to 6.30 am in the morning. Pragyan will do many experiments on the lunar surface in one lunar day (one day of the moon). One day of the moon is equal to 14 days on Earth. However, the orbiter will continue to work on the mission for a year.

Orbiter

It has a weight of 2,379 kg and capable to generate 1,000 watts of power. The orbiter will be a medium of communication between Vikram Lander and the Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN). The orbiter will work for one year from a distance of 100x100 kilometre.

Vikram Lander

It has a weight of 1,471 kg and it can generate 650 watts of power. It is named after the Father of the Indian Space Programme, Vikram Sarabhai. Vikram will work for one lunar day which is equal to 14 days on earth. The lander can communicate with IDSN at Byalalu, Orbiter and Rover. Vikram lander will provide a soft landing on the surface of the Moon.

Pragyan Rover

It is a 27 kg device with 50-watt power generation capacity. Pragyan is a six-wheeled rover which will explore the surface of the Moon. Rover named Pragyan, which translates to 'wisdom' in Sanskrit. It can communicate with Vikram lander only and able to travel up to 500 meters.