Published: 29th Jun, 2023
Context
India’s third moon exploration mission named ‘Chandrayaan-3’ is going to get launched by mid-July 2023 by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
- Earlier, ISRO had lost the Chandrayaan-2 lander-rover configuration and the payloads aboard them after ‘Vikram’ crashed on the lunar surface while attempting a soft landing.
About ‘Chandrayaan-3’:
- The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to retain the names of the Chandrayaan-2 lander and rover for their Chandrayaan-3 equivalents as well.
- The Chandrayaan-3 lander will bear the name ‘Vikram’ (after Vikram Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space programme) and the rover, ‘Pragyan’.
- According to the information, the propulsion module will carry the lander-rover configuration to a 100-km lunar orbit.
- Once the ‘Vikram’ lander module makes it safely to the moon, it will deploy ‘Pragyan’ ‘‘which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility.
- Key features:
- The lander, rover and the propulsion module will have payloads for performing experiments designed to give scientists new insights into the characteristics of moon.
- The lander will have four payloads —
- Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA),
- Chandra’s Surface Thermo physical Experiment (ChaSTE),
- Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) and
- The LASER Retroreflector Array (LRA).
- The Six-wheeled rover will have two payloads — the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and the LASER Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS).
- In addition to these, there will be one payload on the propulsion module, the Spectro-polarimetry of HAbitable Planet Earth (SHAPE).
India and Moon Exploration missions:
- India has a long and rich history of space exploration, with a focus on low-cost, high-impact missions, specifically to the moon.
- India's first moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, was launched in October 2008 with the goal of studying the lunar surface and looking for evidence water.
- ISRO deployed the Moon Impact Probe, which landed on the moon surface and collected data on the composition and density.
- Chandrayaan-1's success inspired ISRO to launch a number of other lunar missions, notably Chandrayaan-2 in 2019.
Indian Space research Organisations (ISRO):
- ISRO is the space agency under the Department of Space of Government of India, headquartered in the city of Bengaluru, Karnataka.
- Its vision is to harness space technology for national development, while pursuing space science research and planetary exploration.
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Antrix Corporation Limited (ACL) is a Marketing arm of ISRO for promotion and commercial exploitation of space products, technical consultancy services and transfer of technologies developed by ISRO. |
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