Luna-Resource / Chandrayaan-3
The lander module from India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission successfully touched down on the surface of the Moon on 23 August 2023. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Indians across the globe celebrated the achievement, which makes India the fourth nation to successfully land a spacecraft on the Moon, after the Soviet Union, the US, and China. The event was live streamed by the ISRO on its YouTube page. Uniquely, the Chandrayaan-3 mission was the first in history to land near the lunar south pole. For the lander module to touch down, the ISRO activated an automatic sequence, triggering an algorithm that took over once the spacecraft had moved above the designated spot, and then helping it reach the lunar surface.
The latest attempt by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to land a robotic rover on the surface of the moon, known as Chandrayaan-3, successfully lifted off on schedule at 2:35pm local time 14 July 2023 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota on the country's east coast. The LVM3 M4 vehicle successfully launched Chandrayaan-3 into orbit. Chandrayaan-3, in its precise orbit, began its journey to the Moon. Health of the Spacecraft was normal.
The spacecraft was expected to take around 15 to 20 days to enter the Moon’s orbit, after which the 1,500-kilogram lander will be guided to the surface. From there, it will deploy the 26-kilogram six-wheeled rover, which will roam the surface and beam crucial data back to mission control. Although the mission was expected to reveal crucial information about a largely unknown region of the Moon, the project director of the first Chandrayaan mission, Mylswamy Annadurai, said via the BBC that India’s space programme has loftier goals, “encompass[ing] science and technology and the future of humanity.”
The launch came three years after a previous effort to explore the surface of the Moon ended in failure. If the mission is successful, India would become just the fourth country to have achieved a soft lunar landing, joining the United States, the Soviet Union and China. The lander was expected to reach the Moon on August 23 or 24.
The spacecraft is intended to be the first to land in the southern polar region of the moon – a mostly-unexplored area of the lunar surface that has been highlighted by space agencies and private companies as having water ice, which could potentially help support future missions, possibly even a space station. “As Mother India enters into the next 25 years, she pledges to play a leading global role in the emerging world scenario,” India’s Deputy Minister of State for Science and Technology, Jitendra Singh, said of the launch.
If Chandrayaan 3 project became successful, then again India would be very proud. India would become such a country in the world that touches the surface of the moon hidden from the earth and know whether this mission would be successful after many exciting updates from there. Chandrayaan 3 lander name was 'Vikram', and the Chandrayaan 3 rover name was 'Pragyan'.
According to ISRO, the mission was going according to schedule, and through a series of maneuvers, the spacecraft would keep boosting its orbit. Before the spacecraft begins its straight route to the moon, the goal was to progressively raise its altitude. Chandrayaan-3 would carry out more maneuvers to decrease its orbit after it arrives at the moon, and it would eventually settle into a circular orbit around 100 km above the lunar surface. On August 23 or 24, the final descent to the moon's surface was planned.
On August 18, the ISRO achieved a significant milestone by successfully executing its inaugural deboosting operation, resulting in a reduction of the orbit to 113km x 157km. This operation took place one day after the separation of the lander module from the propulsion module. The separation marked the conclusion of a 34-day expedition towards the Moon. Following this, on August 20, the ISRO conducted the concluding phase of deboosting for the lander module, adjusting its orbit to 25km x 134km.
Chandrayaan 3 was made with a budget of 600 crores and it was most difficult for ISRO because all the attention of scientists was on this Chandrayaan 3 and successfully launched it into lunar orbit. Chandrayaan 2 was made with a budget of 960 crores and Chandrayaan 3 was made with less budget than Chandrayaan 2 and it was possible by ISRO with the expert team.
Chandrayaan-3 was a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. It consists of Lander and Rover configuration. It would be launched by LVM3 from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota. The propulsion module would carry the lander and rover configuration till 100 km lunar orbit. The propulsion module has Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload to study the spectral and Polari metric measurements of Earth from the lunar orbit.
Lander payloads: Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) to measure the thermal conductivity and temperature; Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) for measuring the seismicity around the landing site; Langmuir Probe (LP) to estimate the plasma density and its variations. A passive Laser Retroreflector Array from NASA was accommodated for lunar laser ranging studies.
Rover payloads: Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) for deriving the elemental composition in the vicinity of landing site.
Chandrayaan-3 consists of an indigenous Lander module (LM), Propulsion module (PM) and a Rover with an objective of developing and demonstrating new technologies required for Inter planetary missions. The lander and rover configuration would be propelled by the propulsion module up to a 100 kilometre lunar orbit. Chandrayaan 3 Propulsion Module was a box-like structure with one sizable solar panel positioned on one side and a sizable cylinder serving as the lander's mounting structure on top (the Intermodular Adapter Cone). The Chandrayaan 3 Propulsion Module also has a payload dubbed Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) that measures Earth's spectral and polarimetric properties from an orbit around the moon. The Lander would have the capability to soft land at a specified lunar site and deploy the Rover which would carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility. The Lander and the Rover have scientific payloads to carry out experiments on the lunar surface. The main function of PM was 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, the Propulsion Module also has one scientific payload as a value addition which would be operated post separation of Lander Module. The launcher identified for Chandrayaan-3 was GSLV-Mk3 which would place the integrated module in an Elliptic Parking Orbit (EPO) of size ~170 x 36500 km.
Chandrayaan 3 lander has four landing legs and four 800 Newton landing thrusters, and it was also box-shaped. It would transport the rover and other scientific tools for on-site investigation. Unlike Vikram on Chandrayaan-2, which had five 800 Newtons engines with a fifth one being centrally installed with a fixed thrust, the Chandrayaan 3 lander would only have four throttle-able engines. The Chandrayaan 3 lander would also be fitted with an LDV or Laser Doppler Velocimeter. In comparison to Chandrayaan-2, the impact legs have been strengthened, and instrument redundancy has been increased.
The spaceship would take almost 40 days to travel the 3,84,000 kilometers between the Earth and the Moon. The Launch Vehicle Mark-III, India's largest rocket, was used to launch the Chandrayana-3 mission, however, it was not powerful enough to send the craft directly toward the Moon thus, the lengthier trip was necessary. Chandrayaan-3 steadily raises its orbits and synchronizes with the Moon's orbit by performing a series of Earth-bound maneuvers and lunar orbit insertion burns. In order to progressively boost the spacecraft's energy and modify its trajectory, these missions used a technique known as a series of "bi-elliptic transfers," which entailed numerous engine fires. This approach takes longer than the direct trajectory but enables missions that are more fuel-efficient and economical.
The mission objectives of Chandrayaan-3 are:
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To demonstrate Safe and Soft Landing on Lunar Surface
To demonstrate Rover roving on the moon and
To conduct in-situ scientific experiments.
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Altimeters: Laser & RF based Altimeters
Velocimeters: Laser Doppler Velocimeter & Lander Horizontal Velocity Camera
Inertial Measurement: Laser Gyro based Inertial referencing and Accelerometer package
Propulsion System: 800N Throttleable Liquid Engines, 58N attitude thrusters & Throttleable Engine Control Electronics
Navigation, Guidance & Control (NGC): Powered Descent Trajectory design and associate software elements
Hazard Detection and Avoidance: Lander Hazard Detection & Avoidance Camera and Processing Algorithm
Landing Leg Mechanism.
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Integrated Cold Test - For the demonstration of Integrated Sensors & Navigation performance test using helicopter as test platform
Integrated Hot test – For the demonstration of closed loop performance test with sensors, actuators and NGC using Tower crane as test platform
Lander Leg mechanism performance test on a lunar simulant test bed simulating different touch down conditions.
| Sl No. | Parameter | Specifications |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Mission Life (Lander & Rover) | One lunar day (~14 Earth days) |
| 2. | Landing Site (Prime) | 4 km x 2.4 km 69.367621 S, 32.348126 E |
| 3. | Science Payloads |
Lander:
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| 4. | Two Module Configuration |
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| 5. | Mass |
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| 6. | Power generation |
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| 7. | Communication |
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| 8. | Lander Sensors |
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| 9. | Lander Actuators | Reaction wheels – 4 nos (10 Nms & 0.1 Nm) |
| 10. | Lander Propulsion System | Bi-Propellant Propulsion System (MMH + MON3), 4 nos. of 800 N Throttleable engines & 8 nos. of 58 N; Throttleable Engine Control Electronics |
| 11. | Lander Mechanisms |
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| 12. | Lander Touchdown specifications |
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The objectives of scientific payloads planned on Chandrayaan-3 Lander Module and Rover are provided below:
| Sl. No | Lander Payloads |
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|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA) | Langmuir probe (LP) | To measure the near surface plasma (ions and electrons) density and its changes with time |
| 2. | Chandra’s Surface Thermo physical Experiment (ChaSTE) | To carry out the measurements of thermal properties of lunar surface near polar region. | |
| 3. | Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) | To measure seismicity around the landing site and delineating the structure of the lunar crust and mantle. | |
| 4. | LASER Retroreflector Array (LRA) | It was a passive experiment to understand the dynamics of Moon system. | |
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|---|---|---|
| 1. | LASER Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) | Qualitative and quantitative elemental analysis & To derive the chemical Composition and infer mineralogical composition to further our understanding of Lunar-surface. |
| 2. | Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) | To determine the elemental composition (Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca,Ti, Fe) of Lunar soil and rocks around the lunar landing site. |
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|---|---|---|
| 1. | Spectro-polarimetry of HAbitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) | Future discoveries of smaller planets in reflected light would allow us to probe into variety of Exo-planets which would qualify for habitability (or for presence of life). |
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