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1st anniversary of Chandrayaan-2 launch, all 8 payloads performing well: ISRO

08:43 AM Jul 23, 2020 | PTI |

Bengaluru: As India”s second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 marked one year of completion of launch by GSLV MkIII M1 on Wednesday, July 22 Indian Space Research Organisation said all its eight payloads are performing well.

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The global mapping of the lunar surface and polar coverage are being carried out as per the mission plan, while the public release of science data from Chandrayaan-2 for global use will begin in October, the space agency said.

“Extensive data has been acquired from Chandrayaan-2 payloads and parameters are being derived for the presence of water-ice in the polar regions, X-ray based and Infrared spectroscopic mineral information and mid and high latitude presence of Argon-40, a condensable gas on the Moon which gets released internally by radioactive decay of 40 K”, ISRO said.

“The report on the major findings from Chandrayaan-2 science experiments was planned to be released at the Annual Lunar Planetary Science Conference in March 2020, but was however canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” it said.

“Public release of science data from Chandrayaan-2 for global use will begin in October 2020, wherein details for accessing the data will be provided,” it added. Chandrayaan-2, aimed at landing a rover on unchartered Lunar South Pole, was launched on July 22, 2019, on board the country’s most powerful geosynchronous launch vehicle.

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The spacecraft was inserted into lunar orbit on August 20, 2019. The Chandrayaan-2 mission was India’s first attempt to land on the lunar surface.

ISRO had planned the landing on the South Pole of the lunar surface. However, the lander Vikram hard-landed in September last year. Its orbiter, which is still in the lunar orbit, has a mission life of seven years. ISRO officials had earlier said it would be used for the third lunar mission as well.

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