Chandrayaan-II: 15 minutes of Terror
Okay, everybody. (1:36 am)
The lander is ready to descend.
Correctly following the intended path.
Wait!.
What's happening.
Lander is shifting away from its trajectory.
The lander is ready to descend.
Correctly following the intended path.
Wait!.
What's happening.
Lander is shifting away from its trajectory.
...........
(Signal lost) (1:52am)
Chandrayaan-2 mission is no ordinary feat. This mission pronounces ponderous labour of ISRO scientists. This mission speaks volume as to the intense effort pumped in for over 10 years. Since the launch of Chandrayaan-1 in 2008, the team had begun its preparation for the next big lift-off.
ISRO's erudite team ventured out for something novel. They planned to touchdown the unchartered location on the moon i.e. south pole. With novel intention and ungaugable dedication, they began the journey. ISRO signed an agreement with Roscosmos to provide the Lander, alongside intended to develop other two modules i.e orbiter and rover in the motherland. An intention of blasting off the mission in 2013 received a set back as Roscosmos failed to deliver the lander due to the failure of an inter-planetary joint mission with China. it was pushed to 2016. Unfortunately, Russia again was unable to deliver the module in the revised date, which eventually led to the termination of the collaboration. ISRO took responsibility on its own stride and initiated the construction of lander, making the mission completely autonomous. Initially, the project was intended to be launched in 2018, but some tests didn't pan out correctly, leading to further delay. Finally, the lift-off was scheduled on 15th July'19, during the prime time of lift-off, an hour before, a technical problem was detected in the engine. This muddle shifted the date further to 22nd July'19. Finally, the day of victory was scribbled down on the paper, while India witnessed the overarching project of ISRO, the cheapest spacecraft for the moon mission, blast off.
The journey from earth to the moon is over 3 lakhs Kms. Bahubali set out to carry out the manoeuvre of travel to the moon of about 46 days. Within the mother's land, it circled for 22 days. On 13th August'19, it ventured for trans-lunar injection, where Baahubali(endearment term for Chandrayaan-2) aimed to reach the moon's orbit. On 20th August'19, spacecraft entered the greyish celestial object's orbit--The moon. It continued to wheel the moon's orbit. On 2nd Sept one of the module, orbiter, released Vikram, the lander, from its body, as planned. The lone Vikram initiated the deorbit burn from thereon, where it aimed to spiral down to the moon's surface from its orbit. With full precision, it carried out the manoeuvre. Finally, the day of joy arrived, when the lander, Vikram, had to descent. On 7th sept'19 the planned manoeuvre of descent began at 1:36, when Vikram's touchdown was merely 30 Km away. ISRO chief called the 15 minutes of descent as "15-minutes of Terror", as the roseate result was solely dependent on the fine landing of Vikram. Vikram started the descent, diligently. Moreover, very meticulously reducing its startling speed of 20,000km/hr to a relaxed speed of 200km/hr. Everything functioned accurately. it was the 10th minute of decent, Vikram being at the altitude of 5Km when problem crept in. Vikram started to deviate from its intended trajectory. Reaching 3 Km more, when at 2.1 Km above the surface of the moon, the signal went off. Connection b/w the ground station and the Vikram snapped, trembling the entire nation. ISRO called it a minor shut down of connection and believed it to re-establish. ISRO's team waited impatiently for several seconds to regain data. Minutes passed but Vikram didn't send a single bit of information as to its condition. The entire nation had its fingers crossed.
Hours passed, but Vikram remained absolutely silent, slowly turning the night of 7th august into a nightmare.
Several hours later, a ray of hope elicited from Orbiter, demonstrating the presence of Vikram.
Vikram didn't crash-land, the images received by the orbiter suggested it's entirety. This instance, particularly, gave a base to hold their hope as to developing connecting. It was still difficult to dissect whether the Vikram was okay and the signalling module was damaged, or the failure was within Vikram too. With passing time, the possibility of the re-establishment of connecting was getting bleaker. ISRO team was putting their heart and soul into making things work, but success seemed in the back of beyond. Media had their heart into the mouth as to the final result of the mission.
4 days passed, still, no connection was made. It seemed like Vikram was star-struck, and completely in the awe of the moon and didn't want any disturbance from other planetary bodies or even planet itself. On the earth, everybody looked at the night sky and wished for its viability. By now, it was no more a science-based project, spirituality slipped into the situation. Prayers and chants were out loud from all walks of life. Everyone longed for a good news from the ISRO team. But, God seemed not to listen to any hymn or ode. And, time was passing like a Falcon. Vikram was supposed to function for 14 days, had it had a soft- landing. Seeing that, a lot of time already passed.
The journey from earth to the moon is over 3 lakhs Kms. Bahubali set out to carry out the manoeuvre of travel to the moon of about 46 days. Within the mother's land, it circled for 22 days. On 13th August'19, it ventured for trans-lunar injection, where Baahubali(endearment term for Chandrayaan-2) aimed to reach the moon's orbit. On 20th August'19, spacecraft entered the greyish celestial object's orbit--The moon. It continued to wheel the moon's orbit. On 2nd Sept one of the module, orbiter, released Vikram, the lander, from its body, as planned. The lone Vikram initiated the deorbit burn from thereon, where it aimed to spiral down to the moon's surface from its orbit. With full precision, it carried out the manoeuvre. Finally, the day of joy arrived, when the lander, Vikram, had to descent. On 7th sept'19 the planned manoeuvre of descent began at 1:36, when Vikram's touchdown was merely 30 Km away. ISRO chief called the 15 minutes of descent as "15-minutes of Terror", as the roseate result was solely dependent on the fine landing of Vikram. Vikram started the descent, diligently. Moreover, very meticulously reducing its startling speed of 20,000km/hr to a relaxed speed of 200km/hr. Everything functioned accurately. it was the 10th minute of decent, Vikram being at the altitude of 5Km when problem crept in. Vikram started to deviate from its intended trajectory. Reaching 3 Km more, when at 2.1 Km above the surface of the moon, the signal went off. Connection b/w the ground station and the Vikram snapped, trembling the entire nation. ISRO called it a minor shut down of connection and believed it to re-establish. ISRO's team waited impatiently for several seconds to regain data. Minutes passed but Vikram didn't send a single bit of information as to its condition. The entire nation had its fingers crossed.
Hours passed, but Vikram remained absolutely silent, slowly turning the night of 7th august into a nightmare.
Several hours later, a ray of hope elicited from Orbiter, demonstrating the presence of Vikram.
Vikram didn't crash-land, the images received by the orbiter suggested it's entirety. This instance, particularly, gave a base to hold their hope as to developing connecting. It was still difficult to dissect whether the Vikram was okay and the signalling module was damaged, or the failure was within Vikram too. With passing time, the possibility of the re-establishment of connecting was getting bleaker. ISRO team was putting their heart and soul into making things work, but success seemed in the back of beyond. Media had their heart into the mouth as to the final result of the mission.
4 days passed, still, no connection was made. It seemed like Vikram was star-struck, and completely in the awe of the moon and didn't want any disturbance from other planetary bodies or even planet itself. On the earth, everybody looked at the night sky and wished for its viability. By now, it was no more a science-based project, spirituality slipped into the situation. Prayers and chants were out loud from all walks of life. Everyone longed for a good news from the ISRO team. But, God seemed not to listen to any hymn or ode. And, time was passing like a Falcon. Vikram was supposed to function for 14 days, had it had a soft- landing. Seeing that, a lot of time already passed.
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