The Indian space mission completes a year in orbit around the Moon

New Delhi, Aug 20 (Prensa Latina) Second Indian space mission to the moon with the Chandrayaan-2 probe completed on Thursday, one year in orbit around the Earth’s natural satellite.

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) explained in a press release that all of the spacecraft’s instruments are functioning well and with enough fuel on board to remain operational for another seven years.

Chandrayaan-2 was launched by ISRO on July 22, 2019, and was included in the lunar orbit on August 20 last year.

Although the attempt to make a soft landing at the moon’s unexplored South Pole using a lander was unsuccessful, the orbiter equipped with eight scientific instruments completed more than 4,400 laps around the moon.

The scientific cargoes, including the high-resolution camera aboard the orbiter to map the lunar surface and study the lunar exosphere (outer atmosphere), sent their data to the Indian Space Science Data Center.

The Chandrayaan-2 probe was launched to broaden knowledge of the Moon by studying its topography, mineralogy, surface chemical composition, thermophysical characteristics and atmosphere, in order to better understand its origin and evolution.

rly / omr / tgj / abm