CHANDRAYAAN-3:INDIA’S JOURNEY FROM MOTHER (EARTH) TO UNCLE (MOON)

Failure is nothing but an opportunity to relook flaws and restart the journey again with new vigor, new energy to set new milestone. The Indian Space Research Organisation has time and again testified the worth of these lines. Coming out from the tears of K.Sivan, (former Chairman of ISRO) that expressed the pain and hard work of our unsung HEROs (Scientist), On July14,2023, It launched Chandrayan-3 for finishing the unfinished target….      

Chandrayan 3 

With the launch of Chandrayaan-3, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is embarking to achieve a successful soft landing on the moon, via its strongest launched vehicle “GSLV Mark-3”, Which is expected to have soft landing on moon’s southern pole (far side)  on August 23,  2023. Once accomplished, ISRO will be in the elite club of Four (other three are RUSSIA, U.S.A. and CHINA) to do so and first to land on south pole. That will be pride moment for 1.4 Billion Indians and will add another feather in the shining wing full of achievements of ISRO. India’s scientific advancement will ashamed Western Nations, who use to call India, a nation of snake charmer.   

And we did it...

Heartily congratulations to INDIA on chandrayan's successful soft landing on moon and becoming the first country in the world to do so 

              India’s journey for moon commenced ON October 22,2008 with the launch of CHANDRAYAN-1 from Satish Dhavan space center, Sriharikota…..

 CHANDRAYAN-1:

 India's lunar exploration missions began with Chandrayaan-1 in 2008, which aimed to create a three-dimensional atlas of the moon and conduct mineralogical mapping.

 Launch Vehicle: PSLV – C11.

 Chandrayaan-1 made significant discoveries, including the detection of water and hydroxyl on the lunar surface.

 With this India became only nation in world to successfully set orbiter of 100km from lunar surface.

Achievements- 

Successfully created first 3D map of moon, Detected water, Hydroxide, Aluminum and  Magnesium on moon’s surface. It also validated ocean magma hypothesis, which says once moon was completely in molten form. 

Chandrayaan-2: Partial Success and Discoveries:

 Chandrayaan-2 consisted of an Orbiter, Lander (Vikram), and Rover (Pragyan), with the goal of exploring the lunar south pole. Which was Launch by GSLV MkIII-M1.Although the lander and rover crashed on the moon's surface, the Orbiter successfully collected data and found signatures of water at all latitudes and many other findings too..

Achievements-

It discovered ice particle beneath surface, traced Argon 40 over there also for the first able to detect micro solar flare outside the active region of the sun.

 Chandrayaan-3:

possible landing sites for the mission is between Manzius U and Boguslawsky M craters in the South Polar Region of the moon.

Launch and Timeline:

The LVM3 M4 launcher has been successfully utilized to launch Chandrayaan-3.Around 16 minutes after the LVM-3 lifted off, the spacecraft separated from the rocket. It entered into an elliptic parking orbit (EPO).Chandrayaan-3's journey is estimated to take approximately 42 days, with a landing scheduled for August 23, 2023 at the lunar dawn.

The lander and the rover will have a mission life of one lunar day (about 14 Earth days) as they work on solar energy.

Mission update: on August 5,2023 it enters moon orbit.

Mission Objectives of Chandrayaan-3:

 To demonstrate Safe and Soft Landing on Lunar Surface

 To demonstrate Rover roving on the moon and

 To conduct in-situ scientific experiments.

 

Features:

 The lander (Vikram) and rover payloads( Pragyan) of Chandrayaan-3 remain the same as the Chandrayaan-2 mission.

 The scientific payloads on the lander aim to study various aspects of the lunar environment. These payloads include studying lunar quakes, thermal properties of the lunar surface, changes in plasma near the surface, and accurately measuring the distance between Earth and the moon. 

 The propulsion module of Chandrayaan-3 features a new experiment called Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE).

 SHAPE aims to search for smaller planets with potential habitability by analyzing reflected light.

 Changes and Improvements in Chandrayaan-3:

 The landing area has been expanded, providing flexibility to land safely within a larger designated area.

 The lander has been equipped with more fuel to enable longer-distance travel to the landing site or alternate locations.

 The Chandrayaan-3 Lander has solar panels on four sides, instead of only two in Chandrayaan-2.

 High-resolution images from the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter are used to determine the landing location, and physical modifications have been made to enhance stability and sturdiness.

 Additional navigational and guidance instruments are on board Chandrayaan-3 to continuously monitor the Lander’s speed and make the necessary corrections.

 This includes an instrument called Laser Doppler Velocimeter, which will fire laser beams to the lunar surface to calculate the Lander’s speed.

What is the Importance of Landing Near the Lunar South Pole?

 Historically, spacecraft missions to the Moon have primarily targeted the equatorial region due to its favorable terrain and operating conditions.

 However, the lunar south pole presents a vastly different and more challenging terrain compared to the equatorial region.

 Sunlight is scarce in certain polar regions, resulting in perpetually dark areas where temperatures can reach to -230 degrees Celsius.

 This lack of sunlight and extreme cold pose difficulties for instrument operation and sustainability.

 The lunar south pole offers extreme and contrasting conditions that pose challenges for humans but it make them potential repositories of valuable information about the early Solar System.

 It is crucial to explore this region which could impact future deep space exploration.

What is relevance of the mission for every Indians

 The mission will reaffirm our science might also inspire young youth to join science as career option and  counter brain drain that further strengthen India's scientific advancement. 

With the advancement of technology space gradually becoming new domain of warfare so space based development is need of the hour.

We again proof our scientists are  second to non, this feeling is beyond any other pleasure   

Types of Moon Missions:

As per there intraction with moon missions are classified in different categories as...

Flybys:

 These missions involve spacecraft passing near the moon without entering its orbit, allowing for observations from a distance.Examples include Pioneer 3 and 4 by the United States and Luna 3 by the USSR.

Orbiters:

 These spacecraft enter lunar orbit to conduct prolonged studies of the moon's surface and atmosphere.Chandrayaan-1 and 46 other missions have utilized orbiters.

Impact Missions:

 Extensions of orbiter missions, impact missions involve instruments making an uncontrolled landing on the lunar surface, providing valuable data before being destroyed. Chandrayaan-1's Moon Impact Probe (MIP) followed this approach.

Landers:

 These missions aim for a soft landing on the moon's surface, allowing for close-quarter observations. Luna 9 by the USSR was the first successful landing on the moon in 1966.

Rovers:

 Rovers are specialized payloads that detach from landers and move independently on the lunar surface.They gather valuable data and overcome the limitations of stationary landers. Chandrayaan-2's rover was called Pragyan( same name is retained for Chandrayaan-3 as well).

Earlier moon missions:

During cold war era there were  battle everywhere between U.S.A. and USSR that is also in space domain. The first battle was won by USSR when it successfully landed Luna-2  on moon surface, U.S.A retaliated with Apollo-11 when it got success in landing Human on moon surface.     

Human Missions:

 These missions involve the landing of astronauts on the moon's surface.Only NASA has achieved this feat, with six successful landings between 1969 and 1972.NASA's Artemis III, planned for 2025, will mark humanity's return to the moon.

Other two-

Japan with Hiten and China  with Chang’e-1 also able to put themselves in the elite club.

In the concluding lines, I am wishing for successful soft landing to Vikram lander you too can send your wishes through comment box. I am full of euphoria for this and many more such accomplishment of ISRO. I will keep you updated about the detail of ISRO’s future explorations like GAGANYAN, Aditya-L1,Sukryan, NISAR etc. you can follow my blog to stay tuned with me.  You can also share, in the comment box, your excitement and plan for the landing day .