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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chandrayaan programme | 2/7 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrayaan_programme | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T12:59:47.013443+00:00 | kb-cron |
==== Russian collaboration and back out ==== According to the agreement, ISRO had the responsibility of launching, orbiting, and deployment of the Pragyan rover while Russia's Roscosmos would provide the lander. The design of the spacecraft by ISRO was completed in 2009, the payloads were also finalized and the launch was targeted for 2013. The project then hit a roadblock when Russia delayed its development of the lander due to failure of its Fobos-Grunt mission which revealed technical issues in the similar parts that would be used in the lunar lander. Russia then proposed a few changes which required ISRO to decrease mass of its rover due to increase in the mass of the lander. A delayed timeline and the Russian request to accept the risk meant that India had to undertake the entire project independently. With Mars transfer window arriving in the 2013, ISRO repurposed the unused Chandrayaan-2 orbiter hardware for the Mars Orbiter Mission.
==== Indigenous development of the lander ==== With the Russian agreement falling apart, India was left alone and now had complete responsibility for the project including the development of lander technology. For which, ISRO created a mimic of Chandrayaan-2's lunar landing site in Challakere with craters that measured 10 m (33 ft) in diameter and were 3 m (9.8 ft) deep. This site was used for testing the electronics of the lander and rover. The project was now estimated to cost ₹600 crore (US$63 million) and was expected to launch in the first quarter of 2018 on GSLV MK-II. Later in 2017, India signed a deal with Japan's JAXA to conduct a feasibility study for another joint lunar roving mission named Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (LUPEX). For which a technical demonstration of soft landing was required to be conducted with Chandrayaan-2 mission.
In 2018, the mission faced its second delay after ISRO made design changes for the spacecraft as well as changes in its maneuver where the lander would orbit the Moon to assess the performance of various systems before performing landing. This was contrary to the previous plan where the lander would directly descend after arriving in the designated orbit. A fifth engine was added to the lander, the diameter of the landing legs was increased, two additional propellant tanks were added and additional support systems for power, structure, and thermal control were also provided. This significantly increased the mass of the composite and required ISRO to upgrade the GSLV Mk-II vehicle, but the scientists felt it would be risky to fly the test flight of the uprated Mk-II with Chandrayaan-2 payload, hence a more capable and already flown LVM3 vehicle was chosen.
During a landing test in February 2019, the lander suffered minor injuries in two of its legs due to a faulty orientation for the test, and the launch was then targeted for the second quarter of the year. Final cost for the Chandrayaan-2 project was around ₹800 crore (US$85 million).
==== Flight ==== On 22 July 2019, Chandrayaan-2 was finally launched on LVM3 putting an end to several roadblocks that hit the mission during the decade. After orbit-raising maneuvers and finally the trans lunar injection, Chandrayaan-2 attained the lunar Orbit on 20 August. On 6 September 2019, during the descent to the surface, the contact with the lander was lost after it crash-landed. According to the chairman K. Sivan, the lander was operating as expected until it was just 2.1 km (1.3 mi) above the surface when it started deviating from the intended trajectory. Four years later, ISRO chairman S. Somanath revealed three major reasons for the failure, the presence of five engines that generated a higher thrust which made the errors accumulate over time, the lander being unable to turn very fast because it was not expected to perform at such a high pace turning and the final reason was the small 500x500 m landing site chosen that left the lander with less room for error.
=== Third mission ===