Chandrayaan-2 is all set for expanding Indian footprint in space, with its lander poised to set its foot on the lunar South Pole. The mission however is very complex, though the national space agency ISRO has devised the mission in such a way that the hurdles could be crossed effectively. Here is an attempt to look at the several challenges of such complex missions.<br />''<br />''Distance involved in the mission is one of the biggest challenges. The earth and the moon are about 3.84 lakh kilometres away from each other. It has to be ensured that the lunar mission travel in an accurate trajectory for such a long distance.<br />''<br />''The factors affecting the flying path of lunar crafts include the non-uniform gravitational pulls by the earth and the moon and also by the other astronomical bodies on it. Solar radiation pressure and the moon's orbital movement is another chalenge. The Chandrayaan-2 however meticulously reached the orbit around the moon on the 20th of last month using the most cost-effective method of exploiting the gravities of the earth and the moon, besides using its own fuel.<br />''<br />''The deep-space communication faces a challenge due to the long distance and the limited power. The radio signals pick up the background noise in the space. Sifting through the noise and extracting the exact information is a tricky issue, in which the ISRO has gained expertise. The moon's gravity is not the same all along its surface, due to the fact that its mass is not uniformly distributed. This influences the lunar-bound orbit of the spacecraft.<br />''<br />''A precise understanding of the thermal environment of the moon is very essential to safeguard the electronics of the spacecraft. Some areas of the moon are in chilling cold conditions whereas the other regions are fully exposed to the sun. The temperatures also differ from one altitude to the other, which needs to be taken into account.<br />''<br />''The most complex feature of the lunar mission is the soft-landing part of it. The powered descent takes into account the variations in the local gravity of the moon. There are several autonomous features involved in the soft-landing process. The landscape of the landing site has to be chosen by the lunar craft in such a way that it does not move to a communication-shadow region. There are software installed into the Lander to overcome the challenges.<br />''<br />''The lunar dust is another important area in such lunar missions. The very fine, minuscule dusts are highly charged, and therefore can stick to any surface very easily. While landing, the thrusters of the Lander of Chandrayaan-2 would result in the backward flow of hot gases, that may raise the. If the situation is not properly handled, it may lead to deposit of a thick layer of dust on the instruments hampering their functioning. The ISRO has taken utmost care overcome such eventualities.<br />''<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">The temperatures and pressure on the lunar surface varies in a drastic manner, due to the fact that a single lunar day is equal to 14 days on the earth. Due to the thin atmosphere, the ambient pressure on lunar surface is almost close to a vacuum, posing another set of challenges to such missions. The Chandrayaan-2 has several features inbuilt into it to overcome all the challenges. </span><br />