In the vast expanse of the cosmos, mankind has always been fascinated by the celestial bodies that grace the night sky. Earth’s closest neighbor, the Moon, has held a special allure for space explorers and scientists. India’s ambitious space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), embarked on an extraordinary mission, Chandrayaan 3, to unlock the Moon’s enigmatic secrets.
On Friday at 2:35 p.m., India’s third lunar mission lifted off. The mission’s goal is to land softly on the lunar surface and use a rover to investigate it, something that its predecessor could not do.
India will become the fourth nation to pull out a soft landing after China, Russia, and the United States. The post is still open following the failure of the spacecraft carrying the Japanese lander rover and the UAE rover in 2022, as well as the missions from Israel and India in 2019 that crashed-landed.
Lessons From Previous Test Launch Of Chandrayaan 2
Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) have drawn lessons from the previous mission even though the mission’s goals have not changed. After a series of experiments to examine how it functions in many scenarios, including not being able to reach the landing site, having electronics or sensors fail, and having a higher velocity than necessary, among others, the lander’s design was modified.
Chandrayaan 3 launch date
On July 14, at 2:35 p.m., a Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM-3) rocket carrying India’s Chandrayaan-3 moon mission was successfully launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota’s second launch pad. On August 23, 2023, the lander and rover are anticipated to touch down close to the lunar south pole.
Chandrayaan 3 UPSC
India’s dedication to pushing through challenges and continuing its lunar exploration is symbolized by the Chandrayaan-3 project. While starting a new lunar trip, ISRO honors the pioneers of its space program by keeping the names Vikram and Pragyan.
Chandrayaan 3 mission
India’s third moon mission, Chandrayaan-3, is an upgrade of Chandrayaan-2 (2019), which had as its goal to place a rover on the lunar South Pole. The mission will consist of three main modules:
- Propulsion module – To show a Safe and Soft Landing on the Surface of the Moon
- Lander module – To showcase roving lunar rover technology
- Rover- To carry out in-situ scientific research.
Changes and Improvements in Chandrayaan-3
1. Presence Of Orbiter
Unlike Chandrayaan-2, which also included an orbiter, the Pragyan rover, and the Vikram lander, Chandrayaan-3 will just have a lander and a rover. The orbiter that was launched alongside Chandrayaan-2 will be utilized throughout the mission for communication and landscape mapping requirements. Instead of the nine in-situ instruments carried by Chandrayaan-2’s orbiter, Chandrayaan-3’s propulsion module will house a single instrument termed ‘Spectro-polarimetry of habitable planet Earth’ (SHAPE).
2. It Has High Powerful Cameras
- Chandrayaan-3 has a function called “Lander danger identification & avoidance cameras” that enables communication between the orbiter, mission control, and the lander as it approaches the lunar surface. Chandrayaan-3 will feature two of these cameras as opposed to its predecessor’s single camera.
3. GSLV MKIII USED
There are some changes between the two missions even though the mission design is the same in both. What is carried aboard the GSLV-MkIII rocket is where the two missions diverge most. Chandrayaan-3 will launch with merely a lander and a rover as opposed to Chandrayaan-2’s combination of the Vikram lander, Pragyan rover, and an orbiter.
According to reports, Chandrayaan-3 would employ the Orbiter that was launched with Chandrayaan-2 and is currently circling the Moon to fulfill, its communication and terrain imaging needs.
Vikram has also undergone the installation of more fuel, which will increase its ability to travel or handle dispersion. Additionally, a new sensor has been included.
- The Vikram lander will also have stronger legs than its predecessor. From 3 m/s to 2 m/s, the landing velocity has been increased.
- The ISRO director had already discussed the specifics of what went wrong with the Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-2, which hurtled towards the designated landing location on the lunar surface that measured 500 m by 500 m while the engines intended to slow it down developed more thrust than anticipated.
- The Vikram lander now has extra solar panels on different surfaces, according to the ISRO director, to ensure that it can generate power regardless of how it lands. While cranes were used to test the landing procedures, the spacecraft was also flown over various terrains to test its capacity to tolerate vibrations.
- An astounding total of nine in-situ instruments that are currently in use on the Moon’s orbit were aboard the Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter when it was launched. In contrast, the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s propulsion module will only contain the Spectro-Polarimetry of Habitable Planetary Earth (SHAPE) instrument, which will be used to analyze the spectral and polarimetric measurements of Earth from the lunar orbit.
Final Take Away
The Chandrayaan 3 spacecraft will launch with a rover and lander. There won’t be any orbiters like Chandrayaan 2 in orbit. India is specifically looking at areas of the Moon’s surface that haven’t seen sunlight in a few billion years. These darker areas of the lunar surface may have ice and rich mineral resources, according to scientists and astronomers.
This exploration will also try to look into the exosphere and the subsurface in addition to its surface-focused approach. The rover of this project will communicate with Earth using an orbiter from Chandrayaan 2. It will require pictures to look at the surface from 100 kilometers from the lunar orbit.
