The Chandrayaan-3 Mission to the Moon
Thinking of all the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) team today who are in the mission control room ahead of the Chandrayaan-3 Mission launch to the Moon today.
Chandrayaan-3 is 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 will be launched by LVM3 from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota. The propulsion module will 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.
This is a big moment for India and has captured the nation’s heart as well as those of us watching from across the globe.
As Chandrayaan-3 leaves Earth orbit, the ESA Operations & Space Safety team will begin coordinating additional tracking support from the brilliant team at the Goonhilly Earth Station in the UK.
The Science of the Chandrayaan-3 Mission
There are four science payloads on the lunar lander of which one will study the Moon quakes while the other one studies as to how the surface of the Moon allows heat to flow through it. The third one will study the plasma environment near the moon’s surface. The fourth instrument will enable scientists to measure the distance between the Earth and Moon very accurately. The instruments on the rover help us study the composition of the Moon’s surface using X-rays and laser prospectively
while the lander and rover will be in direct contact with each other.
The propulsion module circling the moon will observe the light coming from Earth.
ISRO 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 is 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.
