Chandrayaan-2: Unexplored Secrets On Moon's South Pole
After traversing a distance of over 3,84,000 km on a pre-defined path, the lander ‘Vikram’ lost communication with ground stations during its final descent.
Even though Chandrayaan-2’s lander, Vikram, couldn’t land softly on the moon’s surface but that was just 5% of the mission that failed, the rest 95% is still functioning.
Indian’s second moon mission Chandrayaan-2’s successful landing would not only have made India the fourth country after Russia, the US and China to achieve a soft-landing on the lunar surface, but it would also have made India the first country to land on the unexplored Moon’s South Pole.
The success ratio of lunar missions undertaken in the last six decades is 60 percent, according to US space agency NASA's 'Moon Fact Sheet'. Of the 109 lunar missions during the period, 61 were successful and 48 had failed, it stated.
But what made India’s mission to the South Pole so special and why was the international community keeping a keen eye on the developments of Chandrayaan-2?
There has been a lull in the lunar missions after 1976 until 2008 when India’s first moon mission Chandrayaan-1 renewed the interest of the scientists' community across the globe when it discovered the presence of water on the moon.
Since the sunlight never touches Moon’s South Pole, it offers an undisturbed record of the solar system’s origins. It is a hub of essential resources such as Hydrogen, Methane, Sodium, Mercury & Ammonia. Moon’s craters, which are permanently shadowed, have an estimated collection of approximately 10,000 to one million tonnes of ice in there.
It will eliminate the need for carrying water to the moon for every human mission and thus saving a lot of rocket fuel. More rocket fuel could be made since rocket fuel is made up of hydrogen and oxygen, kickstarting more lunar & inter-planetary missions.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin is next to launch a mission to the South Pole.
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Indian’s second moon mission Chandrayaan-2’s successful landing would not only have made India the fourth country after Russia, the US and China to achieve a soft-landing on the lunar surface, but it would also have made India the first country to land on the unexplored Moon’s South Pole.
The success ratio of lunar missions undertaken in the last six decades is 60 percent, according to US space agency NASA's 'Moon Fact Sheet'. Of the 109 lunar missions during the period, 61 were successful and 48 had failed, it stated.
But what made India’s mission to the South Pole so special and why was the international community keeping a keen eye on the developments of Chandrayaan-2?
There has been a lull in the lunar missions after 1976 until 2008 when India’s first moon mission Chandrayaan-1 renewed the interest of the scientists' community across the globe when it discovered the presence of water on the moon.
Since the sunlight never touches Moon’s South Pole, it offers an undisturbed record of the solar system’s origins. It is a hub of essential resources such as Hydrogen, Methane, Sodium, Mercury & Ammonia. Moon’s craters, which are permanently shadowed, have an estimated collection of approximately 10,000 to one million tonnes of ice in there.
It will eliminate the need for carrying water to the moon for every human mission and thus saving a lot of rocket fuel. More rocket fuel could be made since rocket fuel is made up of hydrogen and oxygen, kickstarting more lunar & inter-planetary missions.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin is next to launch a mission to the South Pole.
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