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- Chandrayaan-2 was successfully launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.
- Chandrayaan 2 is India’s second lunar mission and 1st Indian expedition to attempt a soft landing on the lunar surface with indigenous technology. If successful, India will be the 4th country ever to soft land on the lunar surface- after USA, Russia and China.
- It seeks to land on the lunar south pole- unexplored by any nation before. The lunar South Pole is especially interesting because a larger section of its surface stays in the shadow than the North Pole.
- There is a possibility of the presence of water in permanently shadowed areas around it. Also, the South Polar Region has craters that are cold traps, containing a fossilised record of the early Solar System.
- Chandrayaan 2 will use the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover to attempt a soft landing in a high plain between two craters — Manzinus C and Simpelius N.
- Chandrayaan-2 will carry out extensive three-dimensional mapping of the topography of the lunar South Pole region. It will also determine its elemental composition and seismic activity.
- The mission would also try to assess the abundance and distribution of water on the lunar surface.
