CHANDRAYAAN 3
CHANDRAYAAN 3 in Detail
EXPLORING THE MOON’S SOUTH POLE:
Temperature of the South Pole:
- Moon’s South pole experiences extreme temperatures due to its location
- It can drop to as low as -230 degree Celsius (-382) Fahrenheit in shadowed region
Characteristics of South Pole:
- The area around moon’s South Pole is characterized by both illuminated and shadowed regions.
- The continuous areas are of particular interest due to their potential for water ice accumulation.
- The presence of craters and rugged trained poses challenges for landing and exploration.
HISTORY OF CHANDRAYAAN : INDIA’S LUNAR EXPLORATION JOURNEY:
- Launched on : 22nd Oct, 2008
- Launcher : PSLV-XL
- Detected water molecules on the Lunar Surface
Chadrayaan – 2 (2019, A COMPLEX LUNAR MISSION)
- Launched on 22nd July, 2019
- Consisted of ORBITER, LANDER(VIKRAM), ROVER (PRAGYAN)
- Launcher : GSLV Mk
Chandrayaan -3 (2023)
- 3rd lunar mission of India
- Launched on: 14th July, 2023
- Launcher : LVM3 (also known as GSLV)
It has 3 payloads:
Propulsion module: carries lander-rover to lunar orbit
Lander Payloads: includes RAMBHA, ChaSTE, ILSA, LP for seimic, thermal,atmospheric and compositional analysis.
LANDER PAYLOADS:
CHANDRA’S SURFACE THERMOPHYSICAL EXPERIMENT( ChaSTE) – measures thermal conductivity and temparture
INSTRUMENT FOR LUNAR SEISMIC ACTIVITY (ILSA) – seismicity around the landing site.
LANGMUIR PROBE(LP) – estimates plasma density and variations
LASER RETROREFLECTOR ARRAY (LRA)– NASA’s passive experiment for lunar laser ranging studies.
- Rover payloads: APXS and LIBS for elemental composition analysis near the landing site.
- ALPHA PARTICLE X-RAY SPECTROMETER (APXS) – derives elemental composition of lunar soil and rocks
- LASER INDUCED BREAKDOWN SPECTROSCOPE (LIBS) – provides insights into chemical and mineral compositions near the landing site.
Chandrayaan – 22 Vs Chandrayaan Vs Chandrayaan – 3 – comparative analysis
Interesting facts about Chandrayaan 3:
- The space craft is expected to touch down on the moon on 23rd August after a voyage that will last more than 40 days
- Space craft weight : 3,900kg, out of which the propulsion-2148kg, Lander and Rover- 1752 Kg
Three phases of Chandrayaan:
- Earth centric phase : involves pre-launch phase and Earth bound phase,-helps craft to change the direction
- Lunar transfer phase: transfer trajectory phase –helps to choose the path that will lead to lunar orbit.
- Moon centric phase: involves all steps from lunar orbit insertion to landing.
Rover (pragyan)
- The word “Pragyan” is a SANSKRIT WORD means “WISDOM”.
- Released from lander using a ramp
- 6 wheeled rover(26Kg) – powered by solar energy and carries 2 spectrometers to study the composition of moon’s surface.
- The rover will move over the landing area for about 1 lunar day= 14 Earth days.
Lander (Vikram)
- The lander is named after the former scientist VIKRAM SARABAI
- Equipped with 4 scientific instruments
1-Seismometer-to detect moonquakes
2-studies how heat moves through the lunar surface
3-aims at understanding the plasma environment around the earth
4-Retro reflector– helps to understand the gravitational interaction between moon and planets.