Chandrayan 3: India's Quest to Conquer the Moon

What is Chandrayaan 3?

About Chandrayaan 3: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch Chandrayaan-3, its third lunar exploration mission. The Chandrayaan-2 mission, which attempted to land a rover on the Moon but was unsuccessful due to an interruption in communication, this mission will finish the job that Chandrayaan 2 was unable to finish.

With the intention of landing successfully and performing research on the lunar surface, Chandrayaan-3 is developed and all set to launch. An orbiter, lander, and rover will be used in the mission, just like the first one. While the lander and rover perform a soft landing and surface exploration, the orbiter will orbit the Moon.

A follow-up mission to Chandrayaan-2, Chandrayaan-3 aims to show that safe lunar landing and roving are possible from beginning to end. It has a combination of Landers and Rovers. From SDSC SHAR in Sriharikota, it will be launched by LVM3. Up to a 100 km lunar orbit, the propulsion module will support the lander and rover configuration. The Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload on the propulsion module is used to study the spectral and Polarimetric measurements of Earth from the lunar orbit.
 

When will Chandrayaan 3 will be Launched? Or Launching Day and Time of Chandrayaan 3

The Chandrayaan-3 mission to the moon, which has been eagerly anticipated, will launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on Friday, July 14. India's subsequent effort to perform a soft landing on the Moon's surface will be launched tomorrow at 2.35 p.m.
 

What Launching Rocket is used in Chandrayaan 3?

The "Fat Boy" LVM3-M4 rocket will be used as launching vehicle for India's ambitious moon mission as per the Indian Space Research Organisation. If every aspect of this mission goes according to plan, Chandrayaan-3 will make history by being the first mission to soft-land close to the lunar south pole.
 

When and Where Chandrayaan’s Lander will Land on Moon?

Chandrayaan's Moon Land Rover will land on Moon on 23 August 2023. The Moon Rover landing site coordinates are 69.367621 S, 32.348126 E.
 

Chandrayaan 3 Mission Cost:

ISRO Chairman Mr. K. Sivan stated that the cost of Chandrayaan would be around ₹615 crore.
 

What is the Objective or Goal of Chandrayaan 3?

The goals of Chandrayaan-3's mission are as follows:

• Demonstrate Safe and Soft Landing on Lunar Surface
• To showcase rover roving on the moon and
• To carry out in-field research.

What Advance Technologies are Used in Lander for the Successful Mission of Chandrayaan 3?

Lander has a number of cutting-edge technologies that will help it accomplish the mission goals, including -

• Altimeters: Laser & RF based Altimeters
• Velocimeters: Laser Doppler Velocimeter & Lander Horizontal Velocity Camera
• Inertial Measurement: Laser Gyro based Inertial referencing and Accelerometer package
• Propulsion System: 800N Throttleable Liquid Engines, 58N attitude thrusters & Throttleable Engine Control Electronics
• Navigation, Guidance & Control (NGC): Powered Descent Trajectory design and associate software elements
• Hazard Detection and Avoidance: Lander Hazard Detection & Avoidance Camera and Processing Algorithm
• Landing Leg Mechanism.

What Test are Performed on Lander?

• Integrated Cold Test: Used as a test platform for an integrated sensors and navigation performance demonstration.
• Integrated Hot Test: Used as a test platform for a closed-loop performance demonstration using sensors, actuators, and NGC.
• Test of the Lander Leg mechanism's performance under various touchdown scenarios on a lunar simulator test bed.

Main Components of Chandrayaan 3:

There are 3 main components of Chandrayaan-3 - Propulsion Module, Lander, and Rover –

Chandrayaan-3 Propulsion Module: Up to a 100 km lunar orbit, the propulsion module will support the lander and rover configuration. A large cylinder on top, known as the Intermodular Adapter Cone, serves as a mounting structure for the lander. It is a box-like structure with one large solar panel mounted on one side.

The Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload, which will be used to study the spectral and polarimetric measurements of Earth from the lunar orbit, is also carried by the module in addition to the lander.

Chandrayaan-3 Lander: The soft lunar landing resulted by the lander. It also has a box-like shape, four landing legs, and four 800 newton landing thrusters. In order to conduct on-site analysis, it will be equipped with the rover and several scientific tools.

Contrary to Vikram on Chandrayaan-2, which had five 800 Newtons engines, one of which was mounted in the centre and had a fixed thrust, the lander for Chandrayaan-3 will only have four throttle-able engines. A Laser Doppler Velocimeter (LDV) will also be installed on the Chandrayaan-3 lander.

Compared to Chandrayaan-2, the impact legs are now stronger, and instrument redundancy has increased. The structural rigidity is being improved, and multiple backup systems are being added by ISRO.

Chandrayaan-3 Rover: The rover is a portable laboratory that will travel across the lunar surface, gather samples, and examine the Moon's geology and chemistry. It has a six-wheel rocker-bogie wheel drive assembly attached to a rectangular chassis.
 

How Chandrayaan 3 will land of the Moon?

Scientists anticipate that 16 minutes after liftoff on Friday at 2:35 p.m., the propulsion module will separate from the rocket and begin an approximately 5 to 6-times elliptical orbit of the earth, with 170 km at its closest point and 36,500 km at its farthest, heading in the direction of the lunar orbit.

The propulsion module and the lander would travel for more than a month to reach the moon's orbit, gaining speed along the way, until they were 100 km above the lunar surface. It is anticipated that the soft landing will occur on the south pole of the moon on August 23 or 24, according to ISRO scientists, once the lander module has reached the desired position.
 

Source: Official Website of ISRO