New Delhi
Chandrayaan-3’s lander module slid closer to the moon on Friday as it performed the first of its two planned orbit-reduction procedures. The lander module is now in a 113 km x 157 km orbit around the moon.
To approach even closer before a planned landing on 23 August, it will undertake a similar procedure on Sunday. According to a tweet from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), “The lander module’s health is normal.”
The Chandrayaan-3 lander’s communication system will now be attached to Chandrayaan-2’s orbiter, which has been circling the moon for four years after separating from the propulsion module. However, it was only four years after Chandrayaan-2, which ended in a partial disaster, that the expedition to the lunar South Pole was planned, developed, and launched, demonstrating its true audacity. Vikram, the lander, was destroyed as it collided with the moon’s surface. However, the orbiter was successfully positioned in the moon’s orbit and is still operational today.
The legacy of the Chandrayaan programme is rich. A US-made equipment on board Chandrayaan-1, which had earlier in 2008 intentional controlled crashed into the South Pole of the Moon, proved that there was water there. The United States Artemis-III mission will touch down at the South Pole of the moon in the coming years. It would mark the first time in more than 50 years that anyone has visited the moon.
The launch of Chandrayaan-3 coincides with the beginning of the New Space Age, in which the moon is no longer a final destination but rather a stepping stone to Mars and beyond.
Chandrayaan-3 mission objectives
To demonstrate a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface
To demonstrate Rover roving on the moon and
To conduct in-situ scientific experiments.
Chandrayaan-3 will have seven scientific payloads with unique purposes. These payloads are divided among the three elements of the mission: the propulsion module, the lander, and the rover.
As per ISRO, the stated tasks of each of the seven payloads are:
Lander payloads
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.
Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE): To carry out measurements of the thermal properties of the lunar surface near the polar region.
Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA): To measure seismicity around the landing site and delineate the structure of the lunar crust and mantle.
Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA): It is a passive experiment to understand the dynamics of the moon system.
Rover payloads
Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS): Qualitative and quantitative elemental analysis to derive the chemical composition and infer mineralogical composition to further our understanding of the lunar surface.
Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS): To determine the elemental composition of the moon’s soil and rocks around the lunar landing site.
Propulsion module payload
Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE): Future discoveries of smaller planets in reflected light would allow us to probe into a variety of exoplanets that would qualify for habitability (or the presence of life).