ISRO’s Chandrayaan 2 identifies craters that may have water after mapping 4 million square kilometres of the Moon in its first year

Prabhjote GillAug 21, 2020, 10:04 IST

3D view of crater near Lindergh created using TMC-2 onboard Chandrayaan 2's orbiterISRO

The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Chandrayaan 2 has been in orbit around the Earth for a year now.
The space agency released some of the discoveries that the orbiter has already made, like identifying areas on the Moon where water could be present.
Here are six of the main discoveries by ISRO’s Chandrayaan 2 orbiter in the last one year.

Space agencies and private companies all over the world have their eyes set on the Moon as the next hub of human habitation. This includes the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It has found areas water could be right below the lunar surface, landing sites for future missions and what's hidden on the far side of the Moon over last one year.

The orbiter was successfully injected into orbit on August 20. The eight the eight instruments onboard have been scouting the lunar surface for information and clues that could set the stage for further moon exploration.

Even though the space agency did not share how much data was sent back to Earth, nearly half of it was from the Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) and Chandrayaan-2 Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer (CLASS).

According to ISRO, the orbiter has enough fuel to continue its orbit around the Moon for another seven years. The data that it has collected so far will be made public by year-end.

Here are the highlights of the discoveries that Chandrayaan 2 's orbiter has made so far:

Chandrayaan 2’s Terrain Mapping Camera took photos of nearly 4 million square kilometres of the Moon’s surface

TMC-2 Image acquisition coverage plotted over LRO-WAC imageISRO NASA LRO project

ISRO’s Orbiter High-Resolution Camera scouts future landing sites for Moon missions

A close up view of the lunar surface by OHRCISRO

Chandrayaan 2’s DFSAR finds lunar craters that may contain water

L-band polarimetric SAR image of a part of Peary crater in the lunar north poleISRO

OHRC took pictures of where Vikram crashed onboard the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter

OHRC image covering the region between Manzinus C and Simpelius N acquired on 2 March 2020ISRO

Chandrayaan 2’s CLASS finds aluminium and calcium on the far side of the Moon

LROC QuickmapISRO

TMC-2 captures hard to detect lunar lobate scarp that may have formed 1.1 billion years ago

Lobate Scarp in the Mare Fecunditatis RegionISRO

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ISRO’s Chandrayaan 2 identifies craters that may have water after mapping 4 million square kilometres of the Moon in its first year

​Chandrayaan 2’s Terrain Mapping Camera took photos of nearly 4 million square kilometres of the Moon’s surface

​ISRO’s Orbiter High-Resolution Camera scouts future landing sites for Moon missions

​Chandrayaan 2’s DFSAR finds lunar craters that may contain water

​OHRC took pictures of where Vikram crashed onboard the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter

​Chandrayaan 2’s CLASS finds aluminium and calcium on the far side of the Moon

​TMC-2 captures hard to detect lunar lobate scarp that may have formed 1.1 billion years ago