Chandrayaan-3 : Explained : Facts You must know..!

Chandrayaan (Sanskrit version of 'Moon Vehicle') : It's a third Moon (Luna) / Lunar Exploration Project of India

Launch by : LVM3-M4 Launcher (fourth mission of the GSLV Mk III) (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-3 Mission 4)

Launchpad : Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota

Launch Time : July 14 at 2:35 pm local time (09:05 GMT).

Budget : Approx. Rs.615 Crore

Total Weight : 3,900 kg (3.9 tonnes)

Chandrayaan-3 Orbit trajectory (Courtesy : ISRO Website)

Facts about Chandrayaan-3 :

1. Till date, all spacecrafts are landed a few degrees North or South of the Moon Equator. Chandrayaan-3 will be the first mission to softly land in close proximity to the Lunar South Pole.

2. The mission life for Lander and Rover are for a single lunar daylight period (1 day). That is equivalent to approximately 14 Earth days.

Chandrayaan-3 : Main Payloads

3. In remembrance of contribution of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai in Space Science, the Lander for the Chandrayaan-3 mission is named "Vikram."

4. The Rover of the Chandrayaan-3 mission is named "Pragyan," derived from the Sanskrit word meaning "wisdom."

5. Till date, only three countries have successfully achieved lunar landings — the United States (US), the former Soviet Union (Russia) and China.

6. The main function of Propulsion Module is to carry the LM from launch vehicle injection till final lunar 100 km circular polar orbit and separate the LM from PM. Apart from this, it will continue to revolve in the lunar orbit using energy from the solar panels and conduct experiments for three to six months.

7. Chandrayaan-3 has also equipped with a Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload on Propulsion Module which will enable it to study the spectral (spectroscopic study of the Earth’s atmosphere) and Polari-metric (the variations in polarization from the clouds on Earth) measurements of Earth from lunar orbit.

8. Both the Lander and Propulsion Module will communicate with the Earth Station / Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) facility of ISRO located at Byalalu in the state of Karnataka.

9. ISRO is also planning to establish a contingency link with the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter which is circulating around the Moon since Aug-2019.

Lessons Learnt from Chandrayaan-2

During Chandrayaan-2 Mission, the lander had begun to turn rapidly in the last few minutes to reach the precise landing site but still fell short by half a kilometer and ended up crash-landing on the moon.

So, in Chandrayaan-3 Mission, a much larger site for landing has been chosen and Lander has been equipped with additional sensors and hazard-detection system.

A Race to become Global Power in Space technology has begun :

Just after launch of India's Chandrayaan-3, Russia's has launched its Luna-25 Spacecraft which will keep revolving around the moon for five days and then make a soft landing on August 21 – two days before ISRO’s planned attempt.
        

Difference	India’s Chandrayaan-3	Russia’s Luna-25
Journey begins on :	July 14	August 10
Route :	Elliptical route to the Moon	Direct trajectory to the Moon
Orbit Maneuver :	Orbit adjustment required	Do not require Orbit adjustment
Possible Landing Date :	between August 23-24	between August 21-23
Total Journey Days :	Approx. 40 days	About 11 days (including 5-7 days of orbiting)
Design & Fuel Storage :	Heavyweight and less fuel storage capacity (3900 Kg)	Lightweight Design and Efficient Fuel Storage (1750 Kg)
Total Budget :	Approx. 615 Cr.	Approx. 1600 Cr. (As per reports)

This is the second incident when India has launched its spacecraft and some other country has launched its space mission at the same time. Before this, in 2013-14, ISRO has launched Mangalyaan (MOM) in November 2013 which was reached in the orbit of Mars on 24th September, 2014. At the same time, NASA has launched Mars Mission namely 'Atlas-V' on 18th November, 2013 which was reached in the Mars orbit on 21st September, 2014. So, there was the difference of only 13 days in between.

This time also, the race between Chandrayaan-3 and Luna-25 has been observed. But here, the main aim must be the Research and knowledge we gain from this Mission, not who reach first.

Conclusion :        

The unexplored south pole of the moon offers great opportunity for us which may yield invaluable insights on the treasure held by the moon surface.

Chandrayaan-3 will look for presence of water, Helium-3, any rare minerals and earth metals which will open up new possibilities for future human generations.

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