Chandrayaan-3: India’s Remarkable Journey to the Lunar South Pole
Man’s quest for moon exploration began in the year of 1959 when Luna 2 launched by the USSR impacted the moon, becoming the first human-made object to hit another celestial body.
Fast forward through decades of ambitious Moon missions, India stepped into the realm of lunar exploration in 1999, when the idea of an Indian scientific mission to the Moon was raised during a meeting of the Indian Academy of Sciences. Chandrayaan-1, launched on 22 October 2008 aboard a PSLV-XL rocket, was a big success for ISRO as the Moon Impact Probe discovered water on the lunar surface. Chandrayaan -2 launched on 22 July 2019 using LVM3 rocket was India’s first attempt at soft-landing near the moon’s south pole. The spacecraft was successfully put into lunar orbit on August 20, 2019, but the lander was lost amid its descent on September 6, 2019.
Now this brings us to Chandrayaan-3, With a height of nearly two meters and weighing over 1,700 kg the Vikram lander is designed to deploy a smaller, 26-kg lunar rover, named Pragyan (Sanskrit for “wisdom”). It was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on 14 July 2023. After a series of earth-bound maneuvers that placed Chandrayaan-3 in a trans-lunar injection orbit, ISRO performed a lunar-orbit insertion (LOI) on 5 August, successfully placing the spacecraft into an orbit around the Moon. The mission’s most significant moment arrived on August 23 at 12:33 UTC when the lander gently touched down in the mysterious lunar south polar region, making India the fourth country to successfully land on the Moon, and the first to do so near the lunar south pole.
Now why south pole? one may ask. The lunar south pole, which is the southernmost point on the Moon, is of special interest to scientists because of the occurrence of water ice in permanently shadowed craters. However, this valuable resource sits in rugged, shadowy terrains, making landing attempts highly challenging, as demonstrated by Russia’s recent Luna-25 mission mishap. These difficulties are made even tougher by the dark lighting conditions during the spacecraft’s descent. Despite all this, the fact that India became the first country to achieve this milestone is indeed a proud moment for us all.
Landing on the South Pole certainly posed challenges, and another issue that needed resolution was the soft landing. Chandrayaan-3 mission contrasts with Chandrayaan-2 by adopting a failure-based approach. One of the main reasons for Chandrayaan-2’s landing failure was the extra thrust that led to the accumulation of errors, which, in turn, compromised the stability of the lander during the camera coasting phase. This was resolved by giving the lander control over attitude and thrust during all descent phases. Additionally, Chandrayaan-3’s lander was equipped with a laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV) for precise altitude measurements in three directions. The landing area was expanded to 4 km by 2.5 km, providing a larger region for landing. The impact legs were made stronger, and extra fuel was added to enable alternate landing sites if needed.
Besides its main objective of landing a spacecraft on the moon, Chandrayaan-3 will carry out scientific experiments to explore the moon’s environment, history, geology, and resource potential. During its 14-day mission (equal to one lunar day) after touchdown, the spacecraft will perform tests using its payloads RAMBHA and ILSA. These experiments will investigate the moon’s atmosphere and dig into its surface to learn more about its mineral make-up. Through this epic mission, India will gain not only tons of knowledge about the moon’s surface but also insights into possible future human settlement there.
Chandrayaan 3’s triumphant landing at the lunar south pole marks a historic moment in India’s space exploration journey. The mission’s success shows India’s dedication to pushing the boundaries of scientific achievement all within a practical budget. With upcoming missions such as Gaganyaan 1, NISAR, and Mangalyaan 2, the trajectory of Indian space exploration is undeniably brighter.
As we gaze toward the future, I am optimistic that the discoveries and achievements of Chandrayaan-3 will serve as a guiding light, shaping and inspiring the course of upcoming lunar missions and space explorations.
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