Chandrayaan II: Another Proud Moment by ISRO

On 22nd July 2019 at 14:43 IST, Chandrayaan II made a successful lift off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Nellore (Tamil Nadu, India). The space craft carrying a lunar orbiter, lander and rover was originally scheduled to lift off on 15th July 2019 at 14:51 IST. However, due to technical issues spotted with less than an hour to take off, the launch was called off. The main objective stated by ISRO for this mission is to discovery lunar water.

What is Chandrayaan II?

Chandrayaan II is the successor of Chandrayaan I by ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation). Chandrayaan I was launched in October 2008 for mapping the chemical characteristics and topography of the lunar surface. The orbiter stopped sending signal in August 2009 due to technical issues. Soon after, ISRO declared the mission to be over. 

Chandrayaan II was originally planned to be made through a joint venture between ISRO and Roscosmos (Russian Federal Space Agency). The agreement was signed by the two agencies on 12th November 2007. ISRO was incharge of executing the orbiter and rover, while Roscosmos was responsible for the lander. This mission got extended from a launch in 2013, as anticipated, to 2016, due to failure of Roscosmos in delivering the lander. However, later Russia withdrew from the project as Fobos-Grunt mission to Mars failed. The same technology was being used in other space missions as well. 

In 2015, India decided to build Chandrayaan II on its own. The mission was set to motion with launching date expected to be in March 2018. But the launch was further rescheduled to April, then October. In June 2018, the launch was further pushed to first quarter of 2019 after the Comprehensive Fourth Technical Review Meeting. During a test carried out in February 2019, the lander’s leg sustained some minor damages. 

Later, on 15th July 2019, the preparations for launch was almost initiated but was aborted due to technical glitch.  

Design of Chandrayaan II:

The launcher, GSLV Mk III (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III), carries three components, namely, the orbiter, Vikram lander and Pragyan rover. 

The Orbiter-

The orbiter lift off weight is approximately 2379 kg. It will orbit the moon at an altitude of 100 km. The high resolution camera on the orbiter will capture images of the lunar surface before detaching from the lander and rover.  It is carrying eight devices most of which are made by ISRO or Indian subsidiaries. The orbiter is expected to last 1 year on the lunar orbit. 

Vikram Lander-

The lander is named after Vikram Sarabhai, who is considered as the father of Indian space program. The estimated lift off weight of the lander is 1471 Kg. The lander is expected to detach from the orbiter using its 800 N liquid main engines. Initially, the lander had four main liquid engines. However, another engine was mounted centrally in order to remove the lunar dust draft during landing. The lander will be conducting various scientific research on the lunar surface for 14 days after achieving a soft landing and deploying the rover.

Pragyan Rover-

The solar-run rover is named as Pragyan which means ‘wisdom’ in Sanskrit. It weighs around 27 Kg. The rover has six wheels and will commute at 1 cm per second on the surface. During its navigation on the surface, it will carry out chemical analysis, the data of which will be received by the Earth station through the lander. 

The stereoscopic 3D camera will provide 3D imaging of the surface which will enable the ground control team to navigate the rover. The rover is expected to accomplish its mission within 14 earth days, which equals to 1 lunar day as it is not equipped with the infrastructure to withstand the cold lunar night. 

Objective of Chandrayaan II:

The main objective of this space mission is to understand and study the lunar topography and exosphere. To find the chemical composition of the lunar soil and discover water bodies/content, which is better known as Lunar water. While the orbiter will also help sketch a 3D map of the moon’s surface. 

Chandrayaan II Leading Scientists:

Muthaya Vanitha (Project Director)

Chandrakanta Kumar (Deputy Project Director)

Ritu Karidhal (Mission Director)

Nandini Harinath (Deputy Operations Director)

Anuradha T K (Programme Director at ISRO)

Project Cost of Chandrayaan II:

The total allocated cost of the Chandrayaan II project is Rs.978 crore and the bifurcation is as follows

GSVL Mk II = Rs. 375 crore

Space Equipment = Rs. 603 crore

There is also a lot of buzz going on around how this space programme by ISRO costed less than certain Hollywood movies such as Avengers: End Game and Dark Phoenix among others. 

Chandrayaan will orbit the Earth till it attains enough thrust to set course for the moon. The expected date of landing is 07th September 2019 between two craters (Manzinus C and Simpelius N). India will become the fourth country on successful landing preceded by Russia, US and China. The morals are high of all Indians on this grand feat of by ISRO as fingers are crossed for a soft and successful landing of Chandrayaan II on the moon.

Hauntings from Around the World

Aahat to Supernatural to The Wailing… I’ve watched them all. Yes readers, today’s feature is on ‘Hauntings’. It is a general understanding that horror as a genre is pure fiction. A writer’s imaginary ghost killing non-existent humans in a place that’s usually a house, mental institution or a remote cottage in the woods. However, the receptive audience might absorb the content as per their subjective beliefs.

Do I believe in ghost or to put it more descriptively, souls of dead people impended between death and afterlife only to be stuck on Earth? As if life wasn’t hell already (Laughing). My beliefs are of little importance but my reader’s beliefs matter. As that would decide whether you will show any interest on reading further or not. Here are some of the places that are tagged as haunted with the scariest backdrop.

Are you ready with Holy water and prayer of deliverance?

1. Bhangarh fort (Rajasthan, India)

Bhangarh fort tells the tale of a black magic practitioner who fell in love with the princess who lived in this fort. He tried to win her heart using black magic. The princess came to know of his dishonorable ways and got him killed. Before dying, he cursed the villagers to die and also said that the houses will stay roofless. It is said that if you build a roof in this village, it will end up collapsing.

2. Monte Cristo Homestead (New South Wales, Australia)

When you truly love someone, losing them would break you. Mrs. Crawley, who once owned this house, is said to have locked herself in the house for 23 years after her husband’s death. Later when she died, people say that they have seen her ghost wandering in the house and there are also incidents of strange voices and flickering lights inside the house.

3. Highgate Cemetery (North London, England)

If you think vampires are nice after watching Twilight, this might change your mind. Highgate cemetery, the resting place for over 1,50,000 people, is said to be haunted by a vampire. Rumour has it that the vampire is 7 feet tall and has the ability to freeze time and hypnotise with big red eyes. He is often spotted wearing a black long robe. This place caught the attention of people when a woman was found decapitated and burnt. Cold hearted!

4. Ancient Ram Inn (Gloucestershire, England)

Its high time we introduced sacrifices and cult stuff in to this conversation. Ancient Ram Inn was established in 1145. This inn is said to have a history of satanic sacrifices and is built on pagan burial ground. The customers of this inn have even jumped out of the windows at the sight of flying furniture and sounds of children screaming. Such facilities after paying 25-30 Euro, sucks!

5. Greyfriars Kirkyard (Edinburgh, Scotland)

A poltergeist, finally! Greyfriars Kirkyard is a cemetery haunted by Sir George Mackenzie’s ghost. All thanks to a homeless man who broke in the Mackenzie’s mausoleum. It is said that people are often physically attacked and left with bruises and scratch marks. Also, visitors have experienced black outs. Sir Mackenzie sounds like a bad boy.

6. Paris Catacombs (Paris, France)

We all have seen human bones or replicas of the same in our school science lab. But how many of us have seen hundreds of human bones kept artistically in a tunnel. Voila! You don’t need to fret much. In your next trip to Paris, a visit to this tunnel could be an add on. Visitors are not just bewildered by this jaw-dropping sight but there have been reports of people disappearing altogether. If you are lucky you’ll just see apparition. Yikes!

7. Island of Dolls (Mexico)

This one had featured in my ‘20 Strangest Islands on Map’ article (http://bsoccergirl92.blogspot.com/2018/12/top-20-strangest-islands-on-map.html). It is called as Isla De Las Mulecas, the literal translation being “Island of Dolls”. In 1950’s, the island keeper found a dead body floating in the water. It was a young girl. However, he could not save her. A few days later, a doll came floating in the water. He thought that it was the young girl’s doll and hung it up on a tree. The island keep felt that the girl was haunting the island, hence, he hung all the dolls that came floating in the water. There are thousands of grotesques dolls hung throughout the island.

8. Screaming Tunnel (Ontario, Canada)

A 100 years ago, a young girl died inside the tunnel when her house caught on fire. Her house was on the other end of the tunnel. She ran into the tunnel for help but died before she could find anyone. This tunnel now lies below the railway tracks connecting Toronto to New York. It is said that if you light a match or lighter inside the tunnel, you can hear the screams of a girl and the fire goes off on its own.

9. Aokigahara Forest (Mount Fuji, Japan)

This 30 square kilometers spread of forest is renown as “Suicide Forest” as it has the second highest rate of suicides in the world. It is said that the souls of the people who died in the forest, haunt the place. Though the forest looks majestic, it has its demons.

10. Changi Hospital and beach (Singapore)

War leaves scars on the soul. Changi Hospital was used by the Japanese soldiers to torture Chinese soldiers during World War II. Many Chinese soldiers were killed by the Japanese soldiers in at the Changi Beach and Hospital. Both locations are now said to be haunted by the spirit of the deceased soldiers. There have been sightings of headless soldiers walking on the beach.

11. The Langham Hotel (London, England)

If you feel that you could never meet a Royalty in real life, don’t be disappointed. This 153- year old hotel houses Royal spirits including Emperor Louis Napoleon III and a German Prince, who jumped to his death. This place came into news in 2014 when players of England National Cricket team ran out of the hotel due to sudden flickering of lights and other paranormal activities.

12. Hoia-Baciu Forest, (Transylvania, Romania)

Forests are supposed to be beautiful with lush greenery and wonderful creatures. But what is a UFO doing here? Yes. This forest has found its place on the haunted list, when a military technician photographed an UFO hovering over the forest in 1968. It is believed to be an other-world portal as many visitors have disappeared in the forest and for those of who have survived, they suffer from rashes and nausea. Some call it the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania. If there are disappearances, then I agree!

13. Poveglia Island (Venice, Italy)

The last and the creepiest place is half a mile away from Venice, the Poveglia Island. This island also featured in my ‘20 Strangest Islands on Map’ article (http://bsoccergirl92.blogspot.com/2018/12/top-20-strangest-islands-on-map.html). Its history has a combination of worst death. Plague, armory and mental asylum- the magic portion for haunting created. This island was used by Napoleon for the storage of his arms and ammunitions, later as a quarantine in 1776 at the outbreak of bubonic plague, and as a mental asylum. The soil of the land has traces of human skeleton. It is cited that people can hear the bell of the bell tower ring, even though the bell was taken down decades ago. There is a ban on human visit on this island. 

So I’m ending the list on the ominous number and putting it out on a ominous date. If today was Friday, then the circle of superstition would have been complete. As for whether these places are in reality haunted or not is purely dependent on what you experience when you are at this place. But who so ever plans on visiting such places, I would ask you to carry your ghost repellent weapons and a brave heart. May the God have mercy on you soul!