India Might Be The Fifth Nation To Land On the Moon

The Chandrayaan 2 is India's second lunar exploration mission, and it will be launched this April. Onboard in this trip is a laser retroreflector belongs to NASA, a device that allows experts to measure the amount of space between Earth and the Moon. This piece of news was revealed in the LPSC, an event to present findings in planetary science in Texas.

Chandrayaan 2 will be launched in April

According to Lori Glaze, Acting Director of NASA's Science Mission Directorate's Planetary Science Division, NASA is trying to put as many retroreflectors on the Moon as possible so they will also hitch-hike Beresheet, a lunar lander from Israel.

Retroreflectors are mirrors in essence, but they are more complicated than any other types. When they are in place, experts can aim laser beams at them from Earth and study what they reflect, which can provide the exact location of the retroreflector. This result, in turn, helps in measuring how far the Moon is from Earth.

The Chandrayaan-2 vessel weighs 3,890 kg and will be launched by the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mk-3. After entering its orbit, the spacecraft will circle the Moon and learn about its physical features, minerals, and the outermost region of its atmosphere. The Chandrayaan-2 comes after the Chandrayaan-1, Indian first lunar probe and is worth about Rs 800-crore. It takes the country ten years to keep up with its exploration of the Moon after the first expedition started at 00:52 UTC, on the 22^nd of October 2008 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre.

Satish Dhawan Space Centre

The lander is called Vikram to honor Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai, who used to be ISRO’s chairman and also the father of India’s space program. India will write its name on the fifth spot of the list of nations that have successfully landed on the Moon when the rover onboard the Chandrayaan-2 touch down on the planet’s surface. Before India, the Soviet Union, the US, China, and Israel have made the same achievement.