CHANDRAYAAN 3

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.

1. ALPHA PARTICLE X-RAY SPECTROMETER (APXS) – derives elemental composition of  lunar soil and rocks
2. 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:

1. Earth centric phase : involves pre-launch phase and Earth bound phase,-helps craft to change the direction
2. Lunar transfer phase: transfer trajectory phase –helps to choose the path that will lead to lunar orbit.
3. 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.