India scripted history as the ambitious third Moon mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) touched down on the Moon’s south pole, making it the first nation to land on the uncharted surface.
Here’s a look at Moon mission and the journey so far.
What are the objectives of Chandrayaan-3?
- Solar-powered Pragyan rover will explore the surface of the relatively unmapped lunar south pole
- It will transmit data over its two-week lifespan
- It will also conduct in-situ experiments on
- The surface and environment of the Moon at the landing site
- Thermo-physical properties
- Plasma environment
- Seismicity
- Elemental composition
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Time of Chandrayaan-3
July 14 – Chandrayaan-3 successfully launched into orbit
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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
The team behind Chandrayaan-3
ISRO chairman S Somanath attributed the success of Chandrayaan-3 to project director P Veeramuthuvel and mission directors M Srikanth and Kalpana K, and M Sankaran. Who are they?
P Veeramuthuvel – Chandrayaan-3 project director
Veeramuthuvel has roots in Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu and has a PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. In 2019, he took a leadership role in the Chandrayaan-3 project.
Kalpana K – deputy project director
Kalpana is an aeronautical engineer who has been involved in the construction of various Indian satellites and was a part of Chandrayaan-2, Mangalyaan missions.
M Sankaran – Director of UR Rao Satellite Centre
M Sankaran is the director of UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) since June 2021. It is the lead centre in the country for design, development and realisation of all satellites of ISRO. It had designed the spacecraft used in Chandrayaan 3 too.
Technical details of rover and lander
Lander payloads
- ILSA (Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity) – To measure seismicity around the landing site and delineating the structure of the lunar crust and mantle
- RAMBHA-LP Payload (Langmuir Probe) – To measure the near surface plasma (ions and electrons) density and its changes with time
- ChaSTE (Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment) – To carry out the measurements of thermal properties of lunar surface near polar region
Rover payloads
- APXS (Alpha Particle X ray Spectrometer) – To derive the chemical composition and infer mineralogical composition to further enhance our understanding of lunar surface
- LIBS (Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope) – To determine the elemental composition of lunar soil and rocks around the lunar landing site’
Propulsion module Rambha – LP 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
