Unknown facts about India's Chandrayaan-3 mission

 

Significance of name

Chandrayaan is a combination of Chandra + yaan, which means Moon Vehicle. 

It is 3rd moon mission of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Primary objective

• Chandrayaan-3 is the follow-up mission to Chandrayaan-2, designed to demonstrate safe landing and movement capabilities on the complete lunar surface. 

• It will demonstrate end-to-end landing and roving capabilities.

• Various scientific measurements on the moon surface and from orbit.

• The Lander will have the capability to soft land at a specified lunar site and deploy the Rover which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility.

• For safe landing touchdown velocity is planned to be less than 2 m/s vertical and 0.5 m/s horizontal.
  

How it is different from chandrayaan 2

The lander/rover will be similar to the Vikram rover on Chandrayaan-2, with improvements to ensure a safe landing.

The lander is equipped with an array of sensors to ensure a safe landing, including 

Accelerometers (measures acceleration of motion), 

Altimeters (altitude meter using Ka-band and laser), 

Doppler velocimeters (velocity meter), 

Star trackers (Determine the satellite's position and attitude by analyzing the positions of surrounding stars relative to the payload), 

Inclinometers (It measures the angles of slope/tilt and elevation/depression of an object with respect to gravity.), 

Landing sensors, and 

Cameras for hazard avoidance and orientation.

Structure

Chandrayaan 3 have three components

a lander (Vikram), 

a rover (Pragyan), and 

a propulsion module

  Chandrayaan 3 

(Top: Lander + Rover (inside),  

Middle + Bottom: Propulsion module) 

 (Wt. 1726 kg + 26 kg + 2148 kg = Total 3900 kg)

Rover coming out of lander (Wt. 1726 kg + 26 kg)

 

 Lander (Left) Rover (Right) (Wt. 1726 kg + 26 kg)

Rover (Wt. 26 kg)

Instruments installed in 

Lander

The lander will carry

• Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) to measure surface thermal properties, 

• Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) to measure seismicity around the landing site, 

• Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA) to study the gas and plasma environment, 

• A passive laser retroreflector array for lunar ranging studies. 

The rover 

The rover will carry

• Local surface elemental composition to measure material composition and properties, an 

• Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) to study the chemical element composition of a sample from scattered alpha particles and 

• Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) to detect and characterize materials. 
  

The Propulsion Module / Orbiter 

It will carry

• Spectropolarimetry of HAbitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) to study Earth from lunar orbit.  
  

Launching date from Earth

14 July 2023 at 9:05 UTC (2:35 PM India standard time) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Landing has been done using Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV-Mk III), also called the Launch Vehicle Mark III (LVM3). 

Date of landing at Moon 

23 August 2023 at 12:17 UTC (5:47 PM IST)

Expected lifespan 

Single lunar daylight period or 14 Earth days.

Photo credit

ISRO

Reference

• Highlighted in the text
  

Read other posts of this website

 All posts