Explained: Why Chandrayaan-2 will land near the south pole of the Moon | Explained News, The Indian Express

Explained: Why Chandrayaan-2 will land near the south pole of the Moon | Explained News, The Indian Express

Written by Amitabh Sinha |Edited by Explained Desk |Pune |Updated: September 6, 2019 5:27:55 pm

Explained: Why Chandrayaan-2 will land near the south pole of the Moon

Chandrayaan-2 Moon landing: The furthest that any spacecraft has gone from the equator was Surveyor 7, launched by NASA, that made a moon landing way back on January 10, 1968. This spacecraft landed near 40 degree south latitude.

The polar regions of the moon are a very different, and difficult, terrain. (Source: ISRO)

Chandrayaan-2 is the 29th spacecraft to land on the surface of moon. But it will go where no spacecraft has gone before. Its lander module, called Vikram, will land at a location very close to the south pole of the moon, near a latitude of about 70 degree south of lunar equator (the poles are located at 90 degree latitude).