Chandrayaan-2 to measure water on the moon: Misra

Ahmedabad: Work on some of the critical sensors of the

Chandrayaan-2

mission is nearing completion at the Space Applications Centre (

SAC

) and the

Physical Research Laboratory

(PRL).

These include three major payloads — scientific probes, crucial sensors and communication equipment that will be present in the orbiter, Lander and the Rover of the Chandrayaan-2 mission.

The latest sensors will help Isro validate, confirm and even make more crucial in-depth discoveries of the moon’s topography in continuation to Chandrayaan-1 discoveries. While Chandrayaan-1 found water on the moon, SAC has mounted a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) providing L and S band readings on the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter that will help calculate the amount of water on the moon.

“The SAR through differential readings can provide us an idea of the volume of water on moon surface,” said SAC director

Tapan Misra

on the sidelines of the National Science Day celebrations at SAC. The orbiter will also carry three separate hyperspectral cameras that will map the terrain of the moon, including providing information on the mineralogy of the moon surface.

Besides the orbiter, SAC is providing the Rover with a high definition camera and a scientific probe, developed at Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) to conduct on-site mineral investigations of the moon soil and rocks.

SAC officials claim that a new innovation onboard the Chandrayaan-2 is special radar altimeter that will help the Lander to orient itself while it lands on the moon surface safely. The same altimeter will be used for a small test flight of the human space flight mission.

The hi-tech SAC payloads will now be sent to Ahmedabad to be installed on Chnadrayaan-2 mission to carry out tests.

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