What happened to Chandrayaan 2: Those last 15 minutes

Chandrayaan-2 mission was launched on 22 July and its expected date of land was 7 September but unfortunately ISRO lost the communication with its lander (Vikram). Vikram's normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km. Subsequently, communication from the lander to ground stations was lost.

Chandrayaan-2 crash
Prime minister Narendra Modi with ISRO'S chairman Dr. K.Sivan.

What happened in those last 15 minutes?

The expected time of Vikram to land on moon was 1.55 A.M, but at 1: 39 am, Vikram was travelling at a speed of around 21,600 kmph or 6 km per second. The speed of a commercial airplane is around 900 Kmph and by comparing Vikram’s speed with it,
Vikram was travelling 25 to 30 times speed of the airplane. Immediately after 1:39 am, in the last 15 minutes, came a challenge for ISRO scientists to lower down the speed to 7 Kmph. From 21,600 Kmph to 7 Kmph was always going to be a tough task in order to land safely without crash or any other technical failure.

Also, very high forces were being applied on Vikram from opposite direction. Soft landing was always a tough task and we have seen the crash landing in Israel's mission due to the speed control issue.
It's not yet confirmed that Vikram did crash landing or not, but we lost the signal 2.1 Km before landing the moon.

We guess, losing the signal at last moment could be due to the same speed control issue which is still very difficult task for all scientists all over the world.

Possible reasons of crash

Though ISRO didn't clarify about the reasons that why Vikram lander deviated from its path but here are some possible reasons of crash.

Magnetic field

Considering that the lander deviated from its intended path just 330 m from the surface, it could be possible that there was some strong magnetic field (possible stray) that clearly forced the lander to change its path. Also, this explain the fact that the rover may never come back to its designated path; as it might got disintegrated.

Uneven surface

The moon's surface is less explored. Possibly there was some barrier in the form of a mountain or Rocky surface so high that the lander had hit/brushed past to get out of its deviated path and ultimately crashed.

There could be more complex reasons behind the crash of the lander. We will update you when an official statement will be published by ISRO.

 Photos that will make you cry

Chandrayaan-2 crash

Chandrayaan-2 crash

Chandrayaan-2 crash

Chandrayaan-2 crash

Chandrayaan-2 crash

Don't worry ISRO whole country and sciencedoze is with you. Bounce back with full Josh.


Popular Posts

Conducting Polymers: Definition, Examples, Properties and Applications

Image
What are Conducting Polymers? As the name suggests organic polymers that conduct electricity are known as conducting polymers. They are also known as intrinsically conducting polymers (ICPs) and they have alternating single and double bonds along the polymer backbone (conjugated bonds) or that are composed of aromatic rings such as Phenylene, naphthalene, anthracene, pyrrole, and thiophene which are connected through carbon-carbon single bonds. Examples: Polyacetylene, Polypyrrole, Polyaniline, etc What is the reason behind conducting nature of these polymers? Conducting polymers comes in two forms that are doped conducting polymers and non-doped conducting polymers. The conductivity of non-doped conjugated polymers is due to the existence of a conductivity band similar to a metal. In a conjugated polymer, three of the four valence electrons form strong sigma bonds through sp² hybridization where electrons are strongly localized. The remaining unpaired electron of each carbon atom re
Read more

Crime Scene: Definition, Types and Characteristics

Image
What is a Crime Scene ? A place where the crime is committed or where the maximum physical evidence related to crime is found is known as a crime scene. A crime scene is a starting point of the investigation which provides information about the suspect and the victim. This helps to reconstruct the crime and fast resolution of the case. It is noted that the crime scene is not limited to a single place but may extend to a wider area depending upon the nature of the crime committed. For example, In a murder case where murder is done at one place and the body is disposed on another place. In this case, we have two crime scenes that give information about the crime. Types of Crime Scene Based on evidence found on the crime scene: 1. Primary Crime Scene The crime scene where the actual crime occurred or where more usable pieces of evidence were found is known as the primary crime scene. For example, A murder scene, theft, assault, etc. 2. Secondary Crime Scene The crime scene which is some
Read more

Documentation of the Crime Scene: Step by Step

Image
What is documentation of the crime scene and Why it is done? After securing the crime scene, the next most important step is documentation of the crime scene because documentation permanently records the crime scene and its physical evidence. Documentation should be done without any wastage of time as the scene and its evidence may get altered over time. The documentation should be done innovatively and the originality of the crime scene should be maintained and documentation should not have pauses or breaks, it should remain constant till the whole crime scene is documented. There are four main tasks of documentation that is note-making, photography, videography , and sketching . It should be noted that all four tasks are necessary and none is a substitute for another. For example, notes are not substitutes for photography, video is not a substitute for sketching, etc. Following are the sequence for crime scene documentation: 1. Note making Documentation of crime scene in the f
Read more