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Published 13:47 IST, September 6th 2019

Chandrayaan 2: PM Modi hails India's space scientists', adds surprise

While ISRO prepares for its '15-minute of terror' as Vikram Lander soft-lands on the moon on Saturday, 1:50 AM, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed pride

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While ISRO prepares for its '15-minute of terror' as Vikram Lander soft-lands on the moon on Saturday, 1:50 AM, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Friday, expressed his pride as the world watches the final descent of Chandrayaan - 2 on the Lunar South pole. He took to Twitter excitedly stating his happiness at sharing this proud moment as India scripts history with sixty school children at the ISRO Centre in Bengaluru. He explained the ISRO quiz conducted by the Centre which awarded these students this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Vikram will land on the south pole of the Lunar surface and then Pragyan will beginning explorations.

PM Modi to watch soft-landing with school children

READ | Chandrayaan 2: Here's the final timetable of India's moon-landing 

READ | Chandrayaan 2: Meet 'Pragyan' - India's rover set to explore the Moon

PM to retweet photos of people shared on Chandrayaan 2

PM  Modi also stated that he had been constantly monitoring Chandrayaan 2's progress from Earth's orbit to the Moon's orbit to its final descent on the moon. He explained how this mission manifests the best of Indian talent and spirit of tenacity. Taking pride in India's space program, PM Modi explained how Chandrayaan-2's success will benefit crores of Indians. Chandrayaan 2 was launched on August 22, 2019. He also urged people to watch the historic moment, promising that he will retweet the photos people share online.

WATCH |Chandrayaan-2: Ex-ISRO head explains why Moon landing will be historic

ISRO's Chandrayaan 2 timetable

Meanwhile, ISRO has shared the sequence of events to Chandrayaan 2's soft landing. Vikram will land near the lunar south pole, 71 degrees to the south of the equator and 22.8 degrees east. Once Vikram's landing is successful, the hero of the next part of the mission Pragyan rover will swing into action. Pragyan which will emerge from Vikram on landing on the moon and will study variations in lunar surface composition and to trace back the moon's origins.

READ | Chandrayaan 2: Vikram Lander separates from orbiter, landing on Sep 7

What will happen after soft-landing is successful?

Once India accomplishes soft landing on the moon, Pragyan rover will roam the south pole on the lunar surface to test the possibility of the presence of water. As explained by ISRO, Pragyan is a six-wheeled robotic vehicle i.e rover carrying two payloads. With a 50W power generation capacity, Pragyan can travel upto 500m before it loses power. Pragyan, which weighs 27kg can only communicate with the Lander - Vikram. After Chandrayaan-1 provided evidence of water molecules on the moon, Pragyan will study the extent of water molecule distribution on the surface, below the surface and in the exosphere using its two payloads - Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS).

13:31 IST, September 6th 2019