Context: As per Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the launch of Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar mission, and the first solar mission Aditya L1 will possibly happen by the middle of 2023.
Chandrayaan-3
- Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.
- It consists of Lander and Rover configuration. It will be launched by Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM 3) launch vehicle from SDSC, Sriharikota.
- The propulsion module will carry the lander and rover configuration till the 100 km lunar orbit.
Objectives
- To demonstrate a Safe and Soft Landing on a specified lunar site
- To demonstrate Rover roving on the moon which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility
- To conduct in-situ scientific experiments
Several advanced technologies in Chandrayaan
- Propulsion module has Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload to study the spectral and Polari metric measurements of Earth from the lunar orbit.
- Lander payloads:
- Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) to measure the thermal conductivity and temperature
- Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) for measuring the seismicity around the landing site
- Langmuir Probe (LP) to estimate the plasma density and its variations.
- Laser Retroreflector Array from NASA to understand the dynamics of Moon system.
- Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA)
- Rover payloads:
- Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) for deriving the elemental composition in the vicinity of the landing site.
Chandrayaan 1 and Chandrayaan 2
| CHANDRAYAAN 1 | CHANDRAYAAN 2 |
|---|---|
| 1st Lunar mission of India | Floow-up mission, 1st interplanetary mission |
| No landing of the surface of the moon | A lander will make a soft landing |
| the net weight of the spacecraft -1380kgs. | the spacecraft weights approx 3850 |
| Launched by PSLV | Launched by GSLV Mk III |
| Carried a range of scientific equipment, both Indian and Internation; Mini-Synthetic Aperture Radar (Mini-SAR) found water-ice deposits in craters on the far side of the moon. It carried five ISRO payloads and six payloads from other space agencies including NASA, ESA, and the Bulgarian Aerospace Agency. | It has three modules namely orbiter, Lander (Vikram) and Rover (Pragyan). The main aim is to study the moon’s mineral and chemical composition, topology and seismology. It carried 14 payloads; 13 Indian and 1 from NASA. |
