The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is holding a
two-day Lunar Science Workshop 2021, which began on Monday, to commemorate the
completion of two years of operation of Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft around the
lunar orbit.
In his inaugural address, ISRO Chairman, K Sivan said the
eight payloads on board the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft are conducting remote
sensing and in-situ observations of the Moon at around 100 km altitude from the
lunar surface.
"Till date, the Chandrayaan-2 has completed more than
9,000 orbits around the Moon," added Sivan, also Secretary in the
Department of Space (DoS).
According to the Bengaluru-headquartered ISRO, data product
and science documents were released by Sivan, along with data from
Chandrayaan-2 orbiter payloads.
"The science data are being made available for analysis
by academia and institutes, for a greater participation to bring out more
science from Chandrayaan-2 mission," ISRO said.
Sivan said he has reviewed the science results, and found
them to be "very much encouraging".
Chairman of Apex Science Board, ISRO, A S Kiran Kumar said
the imaging and scientific instruments on board the Chandrayaan-2 satellite
have been providing excellent data.
"Chandrayaan-2 has really incorporated many new
features in its instruments which are taking the observations carried out on
Chandrayaan-1 to a newer and higher level," added Kiran Kumar, a former
ISRO Chairman.
Project Director of Chandrayaan-2, Vanitha M, said all the
sub-systems of the orbiter were performing well.
"We hope that we can get good data from the spacecraft
for many more years," she said.
Vanitha said the imaging payloads of the orbiter - TMC-2
(Terrain Mapping Camera-2), IIRS (Imaging IR Spectrometer), and OHRC (Orbiter
High Resolution Camera) have sent us breath-taking pictures of the Moon.
The two-day workshop, organised by ISRO, is being
live-streamed on the space agency's website and Facebook page, for effectively
reaching the students, academia, and institutes, and to engage the scientific
community to analyse Chandrayaan-2 data, an ISRO statement said.
The science results from the eight payloads are being
presented by the scientists in the workshop being held virtually.
In addition, there will be lectures on the Chandrayaan-2
mission, tracking, operations, and data archival aspects.
Along with the scientists from ISRO/DoS, there will also be
lectures on lunar science to be delivered by scientists from Indian Institute
of Science Education and Research, Kolkata, Indian Institute of Science,
Bengaluru, and Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, it was stated.