Nothing to do with rotation, the answer is topography. The south pole has more craters with permanent shadow in them than the north pole. In the north, many craters are largely filled with ejecta from the Imbrium basin impact, so they are not very deep (e.g. Peary) and don't have much shadow area. In the south, the gigantic South Pole-Aitken basin (extending from Aitken crater at c. 20 degrees south to the South Pole itself) causes lower topography to begin with (plus mountain blocks which cast shadow), and there are other craters in the area to dig even deeper - Shoemaker, Haworth, Faustini, Amundsen, Cabeus to name only the biggest ones. The result is much more permanent shadow in the south, and more opportunities for the ice to collect.Chandrayaan 2 is landing at about 70 degrees south, nowhere near these ice deposits. They will have to wait for future missions.
Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will launch its second moon mission 'Chandrayaan-2' carrying an orbiter, a lander and a rover between January 3 and February 16 next year. During a media interaction, Isro chairman K Sivan said, "We have a window of opportunity to launch the mission between January 3 and February 16. We will try our best to launch the mission during this window."He said "Chandrayaan-2 will be the first mission in the world going near the "south pole", where recently Nasa's payload M3 on Chandrayaan-1 discovered ice in the shadow of craters.
The Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft will carry an orbiter, a lander and a rover. The lander carrying a rover will make a soft-landing on the south pole of the moon and the "rover will spend a full lunar day (14 Earth days) there to make the most of the day time performing experiments. "The rover will walk 100 metres and analyse the content of the lunar surface. It will also perform several experiments using payloads it will be carrying. The orbiter and rover will send back photographs of the moon within 15 minutes. The Isro chairman revealed that the "mass of Chandrayaan-2 has been increased to 3.8 tonnes and will be launched by GSLV-MK-III", instead of GSLV Mk II as planned earlier.
Dutch lunar rover missionBy the end of 2018 or in early 2019 a small Dutch lunar rover will travel to the moon.The little 1.5 kg six legged robot will land on the lunar surface and will send images back hometo earth. For this mission the Dwingeloo radio telescope will become ‘mission control’!! Thelaunch will take place in India and on the same launch there will also be an Indian lunar rover. Infact the plan is that the Indian and Dutch lunar rovers will take pictures of each other. It’s a‘proof of concept’ mission. If this is successful a whole ‘swarm’ of little rovers will go to themoon eventually. One planned mission is to build radio antennas to form an array for radioastronomy
The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), which has set itself a January 3, 2019 deadline for the launch of India's second mission to Moon (Chandrayaan-2) has several technological challenges brought about by the new configuration that it must address. In fact, Isro Chairman Sivan K, after whose taking charge the Chandrayaan-2 project has undergone several changes, says that the Lander designed for the programme was ill-configured and would have led to the failure of the programme."You can say that this is Chandrayaan-3 as the project has been reconfigured completely. If we went with the previous configuration it would have been a disaster. They had not thought of so many issues, that are being corrected now," Sivan told TOI. "As things stand, January deadline looks difficult to meet, but as the chairman has said there's a window up to March," one person working on Chandrayaan-2 told said.
Among major challenges are the integration of the fifth liquid engine to manage the additional load of the lander which now has to orbit the Moon, lander legs, rover integration, modified harness and so on. Earlier this year, after the changes were made to the configuration, the fifth liquid engine failed a crucial qualification heat test. The Chandrayaan-2 mission will not be possible without this engine.While confirming this, Sivan had told TOI in August: "The engine is fine, there was a problem with the way the test was conducted. Out of enthusiasm, people did the test wrong. The space system is such that real space environment must be created. But the way this is simulated must be correct, otherwise, there will be a problem. In this case, instead of creating external heat, the engine itself was heated." On Monday, he reiterated that the engine was alright and that it would be ready for the mission soon.
Also, in a recent development, the Rover team has written to the project management team that the new configuration has created a problem for the Rover unloading manoeuvre. According to the feedback given by the Rover team, the new extended solar panels - necessitated by the new configuration - now extends well beyond the body of the lander casting a shadow on the rover when it has to come out of the lander.
One scientist explains: "Although we have a battery, we won't know if that is in charged condition as it would have remained off, so we wanted sunlight. Now, the extension of the solar panel (an additional 350 meters) is casting a shadow, depriving the rover of sunlight during this manoeuvre." Sivan, however, said: "These are design challenges which will be overcome without much problem. It will all be corrected." Sivan has been insistent that the testing of Chandrayaan-2 happen only after the entire configuration is ready. The complete integration is expected to be ready by November 30.
India's second moon mission Chandrayaan-2 being launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will have a key software developed by a startup at its Bengaluru development centre. Omnipresent Robot Tech, a Delhi-based software and hardware development company, has developed the software for Chandrayaan's rover imaging and navigational manoeuvre at its development centre in Bengaluru. The software will take charge of the rover once it lands on the moon, a top company official said.
"We have developed 'Omny3D' which will help the rover to navigate on the moon's surface. It will help to identify rocks and obstacles and track the path from one point to another," Akash Sinha, founder and CEO of Omnipresent, told DH. On the moon, the rover will find it difficult to move as the surface is rough and dark. The software will help to overcome those hurdles.
The Isro didn't respond to a query sent by DH seeking details of the project. Omnipresent, a seven-year-old startup with more than 50 members, received the project order after winning a tender from Isro. The software also helps in the motion planning of the rover. "We will help in its navigation as per the commands from the ground station," he said. The company is working closely with the Laboratory for Electro-Optics Systems (Leos), a research lab belonging to the Isro. It involves in the design and development of optics and sensor modules that can be deployed either aboard the satellite or with the launch vehicle.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), said that a key payload for India's second moon mission - Chandrayaan-2 -has left the Satellite Application Centre (SAC) in Ahmedabad, where it was developed, for UR Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru, which will be responsible for the testing and integration. "The Lander Ka Band Radar Altimeter and HDA Processor was flagged off from SAC to UR Rao Satellite Centre. Ka Band Radar Altimeter and HDA Processor is one of the key payloads of Chandryaan-2," Isro said.Isro is presently finalising some changes in the configuration, which was revised only this year after a committee of experts found that the landing profile was not conceived in the most optimal way, among other things. While Isro chairman Sivan K has announced January 3 as the date of launch, the most recent review meeting on Chandrayaan-2, held on September 19, has suggested that January 30 may be more ideal.
The TOI has been tracking Chandrayaan-2 closely and broken several developments, including the decision that the Lander, which according to the original plan was to land soon after separating from the payload, is to now orbit around the moon before landing. Chandrayaan-2, unlike the first mission, involves a Lander soft-landing on the lunar surface and unloading a Rover to study and take measurements from the Moon, while the orbiter will go around the Earth's satellite.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), on Friday said it has successfully tested the Cryogenic Engine (CE-20) for GSLV Mk-III, which is earmarked for the launch of India's second moon mission, Chandrayaan-2. The test was done on October 11. The GSLV MK-III vehicle's upper stage is powered by the CE-20, which operates on a gas generator cycle using a combination of liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquid hydrogen (LH2) propellants.
The fifth hardware of CE-20 integrated engine designated as E6 is earmarked for GSLV Mk-III M1-Chandrayaan 2 mission. According to Isro, the "flight acceptance hot test" test lasted 25 seconds, and it was conducted at the High Altitude Test facility, Isro Propulsion Complex (IPRC), Mahendragiri. "The test demonstrated steady state operation of engine and the performance of all engine subsystems were observed to be normal during the hot test," Isro said."The major subsystems of the engine are thrust chamber, gas generator, LOX and LH2 turbo pumps, igniters, thrust and mixture ratio control systems, Start-up system, control components and pyro valves," Isro said, adding that the CE-20 develops a nominal thrust of 186.36 kN with a specific impulse of 442 seconds in vacuum.
Any idea what changes have been made to the E6 version of this engine?What is specially needed for the Chandrayaan-2 mission?
Eminent scientist and former Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) director Prof J N Goswami, speaking on sidelines of his lecture at IIT Gandhinagar, said that the project is ‘almost ready’ and has shaped well. “We are expecting the launch in next few months,” he said.
