New Delhi: As the scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) are preparing for the launch of Chandrayaan-2 – the country’s second mission to the moon – on 15 July, the IIT Kanpur has developed a motion planning and mapping generation software to aid the ambitious lunar mission.
According to reports, the software developed by the IIT Kanpur scientists will help the rover in its movement and guide its route on the lunar surface.
The software has been developed by Prof Ashish Datta of the Mechanical Engineering Department and Prof KS Venkatesh of Electrical Engineering wing of the IIT Kanpur.
They said that ISRO has approved the planning and mapping generation software developed by them. It will also save energy and time required to reach the target area, the two IIT Kanpur scientists said.
Sharing more details about their software, they said the lunar rover software has been developed and designed in the country for the first time. “It was long due. This has enabled the country to find a place among those having the technique of making lunar rover software,” they said.
The rover fitted with the software would trace water and other mineral wealth in the lunar surface and send a relevant picture to the laboratory for further research and examination.
”The software would be operated with a 20-watt solar battery and assist the rover in drilling the lunar surface to trace water and other chemicals inside it. Fifteen trials to trace chemical and water could be done with the help of the software,” they claimed.
With the Chandrayaan-2 mission, India is trying to become the fourth country after the former Soviet Union, US and China, which have already launched their lunar missions successfully.
This is India’s second mission to the moon and ISRO believes that there is a huge possibility of the presence of water in that area. Chandrayaan-2 lunar mission will explore parts of the moon which have never been explored earlier.
ISRO says that the objective behind this mission is to improve our understanding of the moon through discoveries that will benefit India and humanity as a whole.
Leveraging nearly a decade of scientific research and engineering development, the mission is aimed at helping in better understanding of the origin and evolution of the moon by conducting detailed topographical studies, comprehensive mineralogical analyses, and a host of other experiments on the lunar surface.
It will explore the topography of the moon and its composition and will search for water besides conducting in-situ studies.
Chandrayaan-2 will be launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota onboard heavy-lift rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle – Mark III (GSLV Mk III), nicknamed as ‘Bahubali’, at 2.51 am, 15 July. The Lander, Vikram, will land near the South Pole of the moon 6 September.