Chandrayaan-3 Soft-landing on The Moon

Quick glance:

• India’s Chandrayaan-3 Mission became the first in the world to land on the South Pole.

• Chandrayaan-3 has landed softly on the lunar surface.

On August 23 at 6:00 p.m., Chandrayaan-3 made a soft landing on the south pole of the moon. India became the fourth country in the world after the US, China, and Russia to land on the moon. It also became the first country in the world to land on the south pole of the lunar surface.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after this success, has virtually addressed the whole nation. He congratulated the ISRO scientists. He also said that it is the dawn of a new era.

The Russian space agency ROSCOSMOS was also in the race to achieve this record. It launched its moon lander called Luna 25 on August 10th, and it was expected to reach the South Pole of the moon on August 21st, but unfortunately, it crashed before its landing.

 

Chandrayaan-3 Mission Launch-

Chandrayaan-3 mission is follow up of Chandrayaan-2 mission. It was launched on 14th July, 2023 from Satish Chandra Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Chandrayaan-3 has a total cost of 650 crores, which is less than Chandrayaan-2, which is 850 crores.

It is launched in the heaviest rocket of ISRO which is LVM 3. It took 40 days to land on the moon surface. Chandrayan-3 took 40 days to complete this journey because it does not go to the moon on a straight path. It revolved around earth’s orbit many times with the help of the earth’s gravity, then gradually entered the orbit of the moon. The reason for doing so is that ISRO does not have a strong enough rocket to land directly on the moon.

The Chandrayaan-3 has the Following Three Components:

1.Lander: The name of the Lander is Vikram, which is the same as Chandrayaan-2. It has three payloads.

A. RAMBHA: The Radio Anatomy of Moon-bound Hypersensitive Ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA) will study the gas and plasma environment of the moon.

B. ChaSTE: It stands for Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment. It will measure the thermal conductivity and temperature of the moon.

C. ILSA: The full form is Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity. ILSA will measure the seismic activity of the moon. In other words, we can say that it will measure moonquakes like earthquakes.

2. Rover: The name of the rover is Pragyan, which is again the same as Chandrayaan-2. It has the following components:

A. APXS: Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS). It will study the chemical composition of the lunar surface.

B. LIBS: It stands for Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope. LIBS has the aim of checking for important elements such as silver, gold, iron, aluminum, etc. in the lunar soil and rocks.

The lander and rover will have a mission of their own one lunar day. One lunar day is equal to 14 earth days. It will land on the south pole of the moon.

3. Propulsion Module: It has a SHAPE payload. SHAPE stands for Spector Polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth. The objective of this payload is to study the earth from lunar orbit. It will observe the light coming from the Earth. 

Aims Of Launching Chandrayaan-3 Mission

ISRO launched Chandrayaan-3 with the following aims;

● To demonstrate Safe and soft landing on the Lunar surface.

● To demonstrate Rover roving on the moon 

● To conduct Situ scientific experiments which includes study of Lunar quakes, accurately measuring the distance between Earth and the moon, thermal properties of the lunar surface etc. 

Chandrayaan-1 Mission

Chandrayaan-1 was launched in Launch Vehicle PSLV C11 in 2008. It was considered a great success as it found the existence of water on the surface of the moon. 

Chandrayaan-2 Mission

Chandrayaan-2 was launched in Launch Vehicle GSLV MK III in 2019. It consisted of 3 components : Orbiter, Lander and Rover. Orbiter was successfully placed in the moon’s orbit however, the lander and rover crashed on the moon’s surface. So we can say that This mission failed just by 5%. 

However, this space mission was not free from controversy, as after its launch some kind of mysterious thing was found at Perth beach near Jurien bay. Perth is a city in Australia. It is said that the debris is of Chandrayaan-3 Mission , but this opinion is rejected as the moss found on the object seemed to be very old. However, the Australian Space Agency said it appears to be a piece of foreign space program. 

Some experts say that it appears to be the debris of PSLV, which is the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. It is a rocket of ISRO. But this opinion is rejected as the moss found on the object seemed to be very old.

Some are of the opinion that it seems to be the fuel engine of missing flight MH370 which was going from Malaysia to the capital of China, Beijing. But Aviation experts dismissed it as the object doesn’t match with any part of the Boeing 777.

The Australian Space Agency said that it is conducting a deep inquiry with other states to find out about this mysterious subject.