Chandrayaan is the name of India’s lunar exploration program, which includes a series of robotic missions aimed at studying the Moon.
“Chandrayaan” derived from Sanskrit ‘Chandra’ + ‘Yaan’, means “Mooncraft”.
There have been three Chandrayaan missions
- Chandrayaan-1 : Launched on October 22, 2008, Chandrayaan-1 was India’s first lunar probe. It carried 11 scientific instruments to study the Moon’s surface, mineral composition, and atmosphere. One of its notable achievements was the discovery of water molecules on the lunar surface.
- Chandrayaan-2 : Launched on July 22, 2019, Chandrayaan-2 was a more complex mission consisting of an orbiter, lander (Vikram), and rover (Pragyan). While the orbiter successfully reached lunar orbit and continues to send back valuable data, the lander’s attempted soft landing did not go as planned, and communication with the lander was lost during its descent.
- Chandrayaan-3 : Although not confirmed or officially announced by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) as of my last update, there were discussions about a Chandrayaan-3 mission. This mission was expected to be a lander-rover combination, with the primary goal of achieving a successful soft landing on the Moon’s surface.
Prime Minister congratulates ISRO scientist.