Moon Carnival: Nehru Planetarium all set to celebrate Chandrayaan-2 mission

The Nehru Planetarium in Delhi is celebrating ISRO's Chandrayaan-2 Mission with an overnight moon carnival. The planetarium has planned an evening skywatch of the moon on Friday with telescopes followed by sky theatre interaction related to the moon.

New Delhi: As Chandrayaan-2 is inching closer to make 'soft-landing' on the unchartered south pole of the Moon, the Nehru planetarium in the national capital is all geared up to witness the proud historical moment.

In an exclusive interview with Etv Bharat, Planetarium programmer Prerna said that we are celebrating the whole month as 'Moon carnival' since the launch of Chandrayaan-2.

"We are expecting a huge crowd in the planetarium as everyone wants to be a part of this proud moment. We have also organised a public 'skywatch' from 9 pm today," Prerna said.

"People can also gaze stars from the telescope, we have installed outside the planetarium. Apart from this, there is also an arrangement of In-house show 'Back to the moon' in the Sky theatre," she added.

Prerna further said that the show will be followed by an interaction with planetarium director Dr. Nandivada Rathnasree. At 1:30 am, we will do live streaming of the spacecraft 'soft-landing' on the moon.

India eyes creating history with its Chandrayaan-2 mission, a mission which several scientists have described as one of the most complex ever undertaken by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Chandrayaan-2 is an Indian lunar mission that will boldly go where no country has ever gone before -- the Moon's south polar region.

The 1,471-kg lander of Chandrayaan-2, first Indian mission to explore the lunar terrain with home-grown technology, is named Vikram after Dr. Vikram A Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space program.

The lander is designed to execute a soft landing on the lunar surface and to function for one lunar day, which is equivalent to about 14 earth days.

Chandrayaan-2's 27-kg rover is a six-wheeled robotic vehicle named Pragyaan, which translates to 'wisdom' in Sanskrit.

It can travel up to 500 meters from the landing spot on the Moon and leverages solar energy for its functioning.

It can only communicate with the lander, while Vikram has the capability to communicate with IDSN (Indian Deep Space Network) at Byalalu near Bengaluru, as well as with the orbiter and rover.

"The lander carries three scientific payloads to conduct surface and subsurface science experiments, while the rover carries two payloads to enhance our understanding of the lunar surface," according to ISRO.

Vikram will perform a series of complex braking maneuvers to soft-land in the South polar region of the Moon between two craters, Manzinus C and Simpelius N, on September 7.

A few hours later, the rover Pragyaan will roll down from Vikram and will explore the surrounding lunar terrain.

Chandrayaan-2, a follow-on mission to the Chandrayaan-1 venture launched more than a decade ago, comprises an orbiter, lander (Vikram) and rover (Pragyaan).

The mission life of the orbiter will be one year while that of the lander and rover will be one lunar day which is equal to 14 earth days.