Chandrayaan-2 Mission : Initial data release

 Chandrayaan-2 Mission : Initial data release


India’s second mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-2 was launched on 22nd July 2019 from Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota. The Orbiter which was injected into a lunar orbit on 2nd Sept 2019, carries 8 experiments to address many open questions on lunar science. All experiments have been performing well and the data received, suggests excellent capability to deliver on the pre-launch promises. In the period since launch payload teams tuned onboard systems for optimal instrument configurations, derived essential in-flight calibration data, revised / updated data processing steps / software and have started to publish early results. Today, the first set of data are being released for all users. The public release data archived at the Indian Space Science Data Center in Bylalu, near Bengaluru is prepared in the standard, globally followed Planetary Data System 4 (PDS4) format for public release.

Science payloads and its unique capabilities:

  1.  

Terrain Mapping Camera – 2 (TMC-2)

High resolution topographic maps and Digital Elevation Models (DEM) of the lunar surface.

  1.  

Orbiter High Resolution Camera (OHRC)

Highest resolution optical images ever (~30 cm) from a lunar orbiter platform.

  1.  

Chandrayaan-2 Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer (CLASS)

Highest resolution surface composition study of Moon using X rays – generation of global elemental maps.

Monthly studies of geotail at the Moon – high time resolution particle spectrum and flux mapping

  1.  

Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM)

Highest time cadence and resolution solar flare spectrum for supporting CLASS and for independent studies of the solar corona.

  1.  

Imaging Infra-Red Spectrometer (IIRS)

Mapping minerals in 0.8 to 5.0 micron with a focus on extracting clear signature of surface presence of hydroxyl and/ or water.

  1.  

Dual frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar (DFSAR)

First full polarimetric measurements of permanently shadowed regions.  First L-band observation of Moon and along with S-band, provides better identification of sub-surface water.

  1.  

Chandra’s Atmospheric Composition Explorer – 2 (CHACE-2)

Study of neutral species in the exosphere and its spatial and temporal variations.

  1.  

Dual Frequency Radio Science Experiment (DFRS)

Lunar charged and neutral environment studies using the radio occultation technique.

 

Indian Space Science Data Center (ISSDC) is the nodal center of planetary data archive for planetary missions of ISRO. The Chandrayaan-2 data are required to be in Planetary Data Sysytem-4 (PDS4) standard and required to be peer reviewed scientifically and technically before acceptance as PDS archives and declared ready for sharing with global scientific community and general public. This activity has been completed and hence the first set of data from the Chandrayaan-2 mission are now being released for wider public use through the PRADAN portal hosted by ISSDC.  Users may also visit https://www.issdc.gov.in for more information about mission.

ISRO Science Data Archive (ISDA) currently holds data sets acquired by Chandrayaan-2 payloads from Sep-2019 to Feb-2020 from seven instruments. Data sets from IIRS payload will be added to this shortly. This release has Level-0 and Level-1 basic data sets prepared using Planetary Data System (PDS) version 4 standards. Additional details are provided at the ISSDC portal https://www.issdc.gov.in and Data may be downloaded using https://pradan.issdc.gov.in .

Chandrayaan-2 Mission : Initial data release

Chandrayaan-2 Mission : Initial data release

August 12, 2020

Chandrayaan-2 imaged Sarabhai crater on the Moon

On 30th July 2020, Terrain Mapping Camera – 2 (TMC-2) onboard ISRO’s Chandrayaan – 2 captured the Sarabhai Crater on Mare Serenitatis in the north east quadrant of the Moon. Mare Serenitatis, which host the Sarabhai crater is one of the lunar mare region on the Moon, with vast lava plains creating a near flat surface. To the east and ~250-300 km of Sarabhai crater is the landing site of Apollo 17 and Luna 21 missions.

Sarabhai crater is named after an Indian astrophysicist Dr. Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai, regarded as the Father of Indian Space program, and the Founder of Physical Research Laboratory and a distinguished cosmic-ray and space scientist. The birth centenary of Dr. Sarabhai is being celebrated by ISRO.



The Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and 3D view of the crater generated using the Fore, Nadir and Aft images from TMC-2 reveals average depth of the crater as ~1.7 km from the raised crater rim and average slope of the crater walls is in the range 25-30°. This Sarabhai crater outer region is dominated by numerous smaller craters of varying diameter distributed over the flat Mare plains, and is devoid of any large crater (diameter >10 km) in its vicinity (~100 km around).  The raised rim, the gradient inner walls and the small hummocky floor makes the Sarabhai crater an excellent example to understand the impact processes on the lava filled region of the Moon.

Location: India

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