Hero Image

Chandrayaan-2 Data to Be Released Globally from October 2020: ISRO

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), on Tuesday, said a public release of science data from Chandrayaan-2 for global use will begin in October.

This announcement arrives just a day before July 22, 2020, which marks the one-year anniversary of the launch of India's second moon mission via the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV)-MkIII-M1.

It was on July 22, 2019, that the GSLV rocket, nicknamed 'Bahubali', blasted off from the second launch pad at India's rocket port in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

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 the radioactive decay—said ISRO.

The report on the major findings from Chandrayaan-2's science experiments was initially planned for release at the Annual Lunar Planetary Science Conference in March. However, it got cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft was inserted into lunar orbit on August 20, 2019.

All eight payloads on the Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter are performing well. The global mapping of the lunar surface and polar coverage are being carried out as per the mission plan, ISRO said.

READ ON APP