Know how ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 will help NASA in its Artemis program

India’s second moon mission Chandrayaan-2, which was successfully launched on Monday, will help NASA in its ambitious Artemis program. The US Space agency is hoping to use the information collected by Chandrayaan-2 in their mission to send humans on Moon. Chandrayaan-2, aimed at landing a rover on unchartered Lunar South Pole, will focus on the lunar surface, searching for water and minerals and measuring moonquakes, among other things.

Following the successful launch of Chandrayaan-2, NASA congratulated ISRO for the feat and said that it will look forward to what the agency learns about the lunar South pole, where it plans to send astronauts under the Artemis program.

“Congrats to @ISRO on the launch of Chandrayaan 2, a mission to study the Moon. We're proud to support your mission comms using our Deep Space Network and look forward to what you learn about the lunar South pole where we will send astronauts on our #Artemis mission in a few years (sic),” the US space agency said.

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NASA has planned to send the first woman and next man on the Moon in 2024 under the Artemis program. The agency has issued a draft solicitation asking U.S. companies to help us develop the 21st century human landing system that will be used to land humans on the lunar surface.

India’s Chandrayaan-2 will take six weeks’ time to reach the Moon. The lift-off on Monday was just the beginning of 384,000 km journey. Despite the week-long delay in the launch, ISRO is still hoping that that the lander will touch down the lunar surface on 6 or 7 September.