ISRO shares first findings from Chandrayaan-2 orbiter's payload CLASS

While efforts to contact 'Vikram Lander'continue, Indian Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday, has shared first findings of Chandrayaan-2 orbiter's payload - CLASS. ISRO stated that CLASS has detected charged particles and its intensity variations during its first few days observing lunar surface. ISRO's lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-2 has been performing scheduled science experiments to complete satisfaction. Currently, ISRO is analysing cause of communication loss with Vikram Lander.

ISRO shares Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter's first observations

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What did orbiter study?

Explaining findings of orbiter, ISRO said that Chandrayaan-2 orbiter which is currently revolving around moon has travelled through Moon's 'geotail' in past month. ISRO explains that a 'geotail' is region around Earth's magnetosphere facing Sun, but stretched on opposite side, extending beyond orbit of Moon. As moon passes through region once every 29 days, orbiter too has passed this region. orbiter has been studying properties of geotail at a few hundred thousand kilometers from Earth, according to ISRO.

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What did CLASS observe?

orbiter's payload - Chandrayaan 2 Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer (CLASS) is designed to detect direct signatures of elements present in lunar soil. CLASS can detect secondary x-ray emission resulting from a solar flare on Sun, illuminating lunar surface. CLASS is equipped to detect presence of key elements like Na, Ca, Al, Si, Ti, and Fe. Hence at opportune moment,  CLASS in its first few days of observation detected charged particles and its intensity variations during its first pass through geotail. ISRO hopes to undertake a multi-point study to unravel “dance of electrons to music of magnetic fields” around Moon, in its future missions.

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What is Chandrayaan 2?

Chandrayaan-2's rocket lifted off at scheduled time of 2:43 PM on July 22. aver distance between Earth and Moon is 3, 84, 000 km. Vikram lander was scheduled to land on Moon on 48th day of mission on September 7. This moon-lander and rover mission proves that India is taking lead in exploration as its mission aimed to investigate unexplored south pole of moon. With Chandrayaan-2 India aimed at soft-landing on Moon. If successful, it would have been fourth country after US, Russia, and China to do so. But unfortunately, on September 7, Vikram Lander which had separated from Chandrayaan 2's orbiter on September 2, while descending onto lunar surface lost contact with ISRO Mission Control Centre. Chandrayaan 2's lunar orbiter is currently revolving around moon taking high-resolution pictures.

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