Chandrayaan-3: Everything you need to know about India's Moon mission

India has become the first nation to land a spacecraft -- Chandrayaan -- on the Moon's south pole. It was also the first Asian nation to put a craft into orbit around Mars in 2014.

India's moon mission

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2008 - Sent probe into lunar orbit in 2008
2019 - Chandrayaan 2 fails to land on the moon

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2023 - Chandrayaan 3 successful after a 41-day journey from Earth to the Moon

Chandrayaan-3 objectives:
1. To exhibit rover mobility on the Moon
2. To conduct in-situ experiments on:

• The surface and environment of the Moon at the landing site
• Thermo-physical properties
• Plasma environment
• Seismicity
• Elemental composition

Lander payloads
1) RAMBHA-LP (Langmuir Probe)- to measure the near-surface plasma (ions and electrons) density and its changes with time
2) ChaSTE (Chandra's Surface Thermo-physical Experiment)- to carry out the measurements of thermal properties of lunar surface near-polar region
3) ILSA (Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity)- to measure seismicity around the landing site and delineating the structure of the lunar crust and mantle

Rover payloads
1) APXS (Alpha Particle X Ray Spectrometer)- to derive the chemical composition and infer mineralogical composition to further enhance our understanding of lunar surface.
2) LIBS (Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope)- to determine the elemental composition of lunar soil and rocks around the lunar landing site.

Propulsion Module Payload
SHAPE (Spectro-polarimetry of HAbitable Planet Earth)- An experimental payload to study the spectro-polarimetric signatures of Earth in the near-infrared wavelength range.

Chandrayaan-3: A timeline
July 14- Chandrayaan-3 successfully launched into orbit
July 15- The first orbit raising maneuver was successfully performed
August 1- Translunar injection
August 5- Chandrayaan-3 was successfully inserted into the lunar orbit
August 17- Lander module was successfully separated from the propulsion module
August 23- Chandrayaan-3 soft landing on the Moon surface

Cost of mission
$74.6 million (estimated Rs 612 crore), far lower than those of other countries

Vikram And Pragyan
1,752 kg - Total mass of the four-legged lander Vikram and the 26-kg, six-wheeled rover Pragyan
14 Earth Days Mission life - Designed to operate for one lunar daylight period

India's Mission Objectives
Solar-powered Pragyan rover will explore the surface of the relatively unmapped lunar south pole
Transmit data over its two-week lifespan.

What's next for India
ISRO slated to launch a three-day crewed mission into Earth's orbit by next year

(Source- ISRO)




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