Chandrayaan-3, India beat Putin in lunar exploration
Chandrayaan-3.
Soon after Russia’s Luna-25 crash failed, the whole world witnessed the touchdown of Chandrayaan-3 on the South Pole of the Moon.
The Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 became the fourth nation to successfully reach the moon after the USA, China, and Russia.
In terms of technology, Chandrayaan-3 is built with cutting-edge technologies. The spaceship, lander, and rover are loaded with high-quality components, electronics, and technology.
For those who are unfamiliar, the Chandrayaan-3 consists of three parts: a lander (Vikram), a rover (Pragyan), and a propulsion module.
Chandrayaan-3, Mission Profile.
Chandrayaan 3 launched on 14 July 2023 at 9:05:17 UT (2:35 p.m. India standard time), on a GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy lift launch vehicle from Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India, into an approximately 170 x 36,500 km elliptic Earth parking orbit.
This will be followed by a number of maneuvers over about 40 days to bring it to the Moon. On 5 August, the spacecraft was placed into a 164 x 18,074 km lunar orbit by a 30-minute engine firing.
A number of firings by the propulsion module put the lander/rover into a 100 km circular polar lunar orbit by August 17.
The Vikram lander then separated.
It began its powered descent towards the surface at 12:14 UT on 23 August and landed in the south polar region of the Moon, near 69.37 S, 32.35 E, 19 minutes later at 12:33 UT (6:03 p.m. India Standard Time).
The propulsion module / communications relay satellite will remain in lunar orbit to enable communications with Earth. The lander and rover are designed to operate for one lunar daylight period (about 14 Earth days).
Chandrayaan-3, congratulations India.
The Indian Space Research Organization on Wednesday successfully landed the uncrewed Chandrayaan-3 mission on the rocky surface of the lunar south pole, making India the first country to do so.
“India is now on the moon,” declared India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi via videolink from a summit of global leaders in South Africa.
The landing follows Russia’s dramatic failure to make it there first earlier this week as its Luna-25 probe, launched suddenly this month in an attempt to beat India, crash-landed on Sunday.
Addressing a global audience after the landing was confirmed, Modi said that “India’s successful moon mission is not just India’s alone,” adding that “this success belongs to all of humanity and it will help moon missions by other countries in the future.”
India is now the fourth country to place a spacecraft on the lunar surface after the United States, Soviet Union and China, but the first to do so on the especially treacherous and crater-filled south pole, where scientists believe there’s water.
Despite its sudden launch in early August, Russia’s lander started off on a solid note, successfully launching and quickly catching up to the Chandrayaan-3.
But Moscow’s craft plunged into the lunar surface, destroying any chance of scientific gain — and causing experts to wonder if the effort was rushed by the Kremlin.
Russian space agency Roscosmos.
Must have been pressured by Putin to go before they were ready to beat India and provide him with a success, to signal Russia’s status and competence. Because the Luna-25 mission “spectacularly backfired,” Russia’s bargaining power in China’s International Lunar Research Station could diminish.
While India spends significantly less on its space program than the U.S. or China, the successful lunar landing is only the beginning for its orbital ambitions.
The country wants to launch its first crewed mission in 2025, called Gaganyaan or “celestial vehicle” in Sanskrit, and has plans to send a research mission to the sun too.
Chandrayaan-3, Spacecraft and Subsystems.
The propulsion module is a box-like structure (modified I-3K structure) with one large solar panel mounted on one side and a large cylinder on top (the Intermodule Adapter Cone) that acts as a mounting structure for the lander.
The main thruster nozzle is on the bottom. It has a mass of 2145.01 kg, of which 1696.39 kg is propellant for the MMH + MON3 bi-propellant propulsion system. It can generate 738 W power.
Communications is via S-Band and attitude sensors include a star sensor, Sun sensor, and Inertial Reference unit and Accelerometer Package (IRAP).
The Vikram (named after Indian space program pioneer Vikram Sarabhai) lander is also generally box-shaped (200 x 200 x 116.6 cm), with four landing legs and four landing thrusters.
It has a mass of 1749.86 kg, including 26 kg for the rover, and can generate 738 W using side-mounted solar panels.
The lander has a number of sensors to ensure a safe touchdown, including an accelerometer, altimeters (Ka-band and laser), Doppler velocimeter, star sensors, inclinometer, touchdown sensor, and a suite of cameras for hazard avoidance and positional knowledge.
Reaction wheels are used for attitude control, and propulsion is provided by a MMH and MON3 bipropellant system with four 800 N throttleable engines and eight 58 N throttleable engines.
An X-band antenna is used for communications. The lander carries the rover in a compartment with a ramp for deployment onto the surface.
The Pragyan (Sanskrit for “wisdom”) rover has a rectangular chassis, 91.7 x 75.0 x 39.7 cm in size, mounted on a six-wheel rocker-bogie wheel drive assembly.
It has navigation cameras and a solar panel that can generate 50 W. It communicates directly with the lander via Rx/Tx antennas.
Chandrayaan-3, more.
The Vikram lander will carry an instrument called Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) to measure surface thermal properties, the Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) to measure seismicity around the landing site.
The Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA) to study the gas and plasma environment, and a passive laser retroreflector array provided by NASA for lunar ranging studies.
The Pragyan rover will carry two instruments to study the local surface elemental composition, an Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS).
The Propulsion Module / Orbiter will carry one experiment called the Spectropolarimetry of HAbitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) to study Earth from lunar orbit.
All The Best!
