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SRIHARIKOTA: History beckons India. ISRO’s heaviest rocket LVM3 has successfully put the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft in Elliptic Parking Orbit (EPO) and in the next 40-odd days, the national space agency will execute multiple orbit raising manoeuvres to insert the spacecraft into the lunar orbit and attempt a controlled soft landing near the challenging terrain of the moon’s unexplored South Pole at 5.47 IST on August 23, if everything goes according to plan.
This is ISRO’s most ambitious and complex mission undertaken till date and comes four years after Chandrayaan-2’s Vikram lander crashlanded on the moon’s surface. But that failure has provided invaluable insights and formed the basis for the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft design, which underwent significant corrections.
On Friday afternoon, the LVM3 rocket carrying the 3,900 kg Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft majestically lifted off from the second launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC-Shar) in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. This only comprised the first phases of the total mission. The mission is deemed a success after it completes all the 10 phases, which are broadly divided into Earth Centric Phase, Lunar Transfer Phase and Moon Centric Phase.
ISRO chairman S Somanath told reporters that Chandrayaan-3 has been successfully placed in the precise orbit around the Earth and is on its way to the moon. “As per the nominal programme, the first trans lunar insertion of the spacecraft will happen on August 1 after four earth-bound manoeuvres are done. The propulsion and lunar module seperation will happen on August 17. The landing is currently planned on 5.47 pm IST on August 23.”
Chandrayaan-3 mission: Spacecraft lifts off successfully from SriharikotaRead @ANI Story | https://t.co/8fATRuqkzy#ISRO #Chandrayaan3 #Sriharikota pic.twitter.com/2Pj1frPCBh
— ANI Digital (@ani_digital) July 14, 2023
What is unique about Chandrayaan-3 mission?
While Chandrayaan-1 helped confirm the presence of water on the moon in 2008, the partially successful Chandrayaan-2 in 2019 placed an orbiter in the moon’s orbit that’s functional to this day. Now, Chandrayaan-3 is set to become the world’s first mission to explore the uncharted territories of the moon’s South Pole.
Somanath said many of the scientific instruments and probes planned after the Vikram lander makes a touchdown and rolls out the Pragyan rover from its womb are unique and have never been attempted before.
ISRO is focusing on two areas. One is to study the thermo physical and chemical characterstics of regolith, which is nothing but the moon’s surface or soil. The other is to understand the near surface atmosphere. “We want to do this as close to the South Pole as possible where no one ventured. We will be putting a seismic instrument on the moon’s surface piercing the probe. We hope to get good data for us to analyse and understand the origin of the moon etc.”
P Veera Muthuvel, Chandrayaan-3 project director, told that the planned mission life of Vikram and Praygan is one lunar day, which is 14 Earth days. “If the lander and rover survive beyond that, we would attempt to conduct experiments for one more lunar day, but this is not guaranteed.”
He said the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter launched in 2019 was still healthy even after four years, although its planned mission life was one year. “We are confident that the orbiter will continue to function for another three years. This was the reason why the orbiter was not included in the Chandrayaan-3 mission.”
Indo-Japan lunar exploration facing challenges Giving an update on the India and Japan Lunar Polar Exploration (LUPEX), Somanath said ISRO was yet to submit the project report to the Union government as the architecture design was not finalised.
“There are several challenges. The rover, which Japan was supposed to supply, weighs more than the carrying capacity of our lander. Because of this, the engines that were used in Chandrayaan-3 can’t be used for the LUPEX mission. We have to develop new ones. We are trying to negotiate with them on how to bring down the mass of the rover,” he said.
The Indo-Japanese LUPEX mission is envisaged to explore the permanently shadowed regions or the dark side of the moon. Earlier this year, a team from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was in India to meet ISRO scientists.
READ MORE: Chandrayaan-3 mission will carry hopes and dreams of our nation: PM Modi
SRIHARIKOTA: History beckons India. ISRO’s heaviest rocket LVM3 has successfully put the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft in Elliptic Parking Orbit (EPO) and in the next 40-odd days, the national space agency will execute multiple orbit raising manoeuvres to insert the spacecraft into the lunar orbit and attempt a controlled soft landing near the challenging terrain of the moon’s unexplored South Pole at 5.47 IST on August 23, if everything goes according to plan.
This is ISRO’s most ambitious and complex mission undertaken till date and comes four years after Chandrayaan-2’s Vikram lander crashlanded on the moon’s surface. But that failure has provided invaluable insights and formed the basis for the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft design, which underwent significant corrections.
On Friday afternoon, the LVM3 rocket carrying the 3,900 kg Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft majestically lifted off from the second launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC-Shar) in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. This only comprised the first phases of the total mission. The mission is deemed a success after it completes all the 10 phases, which are broadly divided into Earth Centric Phase, Lunar Transfer Phase and Moon Centric Phase.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
ISRO chairman S Somanath told reporters that Chandrayaan-3 has been successfully placed in the precise orbit around the Earth and is on its way to the moon. “As per the nominal programme, the first trans lunar insertion of the spacecraft will happen on August 1 after four earth-bound manoeuvres are done. The propulsion and lunar module seperation will happen on August 17. The landing is currently planned on 5.47 pm IST on August 23.”
Chandrayaan-3 mission: Spacecraft lifts off successfully from Sriharikota
Read @ANI Story | https://t.co/8fATRuqkzy#ISRO #Chandrayaan3 #Sriharikota pic.twitter.com/2Pj1frPCBh
— ANI Digital (@ani_digital) July 14, 2023
What is unique about Chandrayaan-3 mission?
While Chandrayaan-1 helped confirm the presence of water on the moon in 2008, the partially successful Chandrayaan-2 in 2019 placed an orbiter in the moon’s orbit that’s functional to this day. Now, Chandrayaan-3 is set to become the world’s first mission to explore the uncharted territories of the moon’s South Pole.
Somanath said many of the scientific instruments and probes planned after the Vikram lander makes a touchdown and rolls out the Pragyan rover from its womb are unique and have never been attempted before.
ISRO is focusing on two areas. One is to study the thermo physical and chemical characterstics of regolith, which is nothing but the moon’s surface or soil. The other is to understand the near surface atmosphere. “We want to do this as close to the South Pole as possible where no one ventured. We will be putting a seismic instrument on the moon’s surface piercing the probe. We hope to get good data for us to analyse and understand the origin of the moon etc.”
P Veera Muthuvel, Chandrayaan-3 project director, told that the planned mission life of Vikram and Praygan is one lunar day, which is 14 Earth days. “If the lander and rover survive beyond that, we would attempt to conduct experiments for one more lunar day, but this is not guaranteed.”
He said the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter launched in 2019 was still healthy even after four years, although its planned mission life was one year. “We are confident that the orbiter will continue to function for another three years. This was the reason why the orbiter was not included in the Chandrayaan-3 mission.”
Indo-Japan lunar exploration facing challenges
Giving an update on the India and Japan Lunar Polar Exploration (LUPEX), Somanath said ISRO was yet to submit the project report to the Union government as the architecture design was not finalised.
“There are several challenges. The rover, which Japan was supposed to supply, weighs more than the carrying capacity of our lander. Because of this, the engines that were used in Chandrayaan-3 can’t be used for the LUPEX mission. We have to develop new ones. We are trying to negotiate with them on how to bring down the mass of the rover,” he said.
The Indo-Japanese LUPEX mission is envisaged to explore the permanently shadowed regions or the dark side of the moon. Earlier this year, a team from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was in India to meet ISRO scientists.
READ MORE: Chandrayaan-3 mission will carry hopes and dreams of our nation: PM Modi
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