Engineering The Future Of Lunar Exploration

  GEOSYNCHRONOUS  SATELLITE LAUNCH  VEHICLE MARK-III (GSLV MK-III) The GSLV MK-III will carry Chandrayaan-2 to its designed orbit. This three-stage vehicle is India's most powerful launcher to date and is capable of launching 4-ton class of satellites to the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit(GTO) Its Components are: 1.S200 solid rocket boosters. 2. L110 liquid stage 3. C25 upper stage. ORBITER: Chandrayaan-2 orbiter is capable of communicating with Indian Deep Space Network at Byalalu as well as the Vikram Lander. The Orbiter Higher Resolution Camera(OHRC) on board the craft has acquired 22 images of the lunar surface covering nearly 1056 sq km area. It is also used to characterize landing sites for future missions.         Weight : 2379 kg       Electric Power Generation Capability: 1000 W Lander - Vikram:  The Lander of Chandrayaan-2 was named Vikram after Dr. Vikram A Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space Programme. It was designed to function for one lunar day, which is equivale

                                                                                                                                                                            18 th September 2008 - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approves the Chandrayaan-2 lunar mission .     At the end of the chandrayaan-1 program on 28th August with the confirmation of the presence of water molecules on the Moon's surface, ISRO set a highly complex mission to the Moon. This mission represents a significant technological leap compared to the previous mission of ISRO. It comprised an orbiter, Lander, Rover to explore the unexplored south pole of the Moon. Evidence of water Molecules discovered by Chandrayaan-1 required further studies on the extent of water molecule distribution on the surface.       The Lunar surface area is fascinating because the Lunar surface area that remains in shadow is much larger than that at the North pole. There could be a possibility of water in a permanently shadowed area