26 Sep

Chandrayaan 3.0 (LVM3-M4 Mission)

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Content

• Details
• Different phases and path taken by Chandrayaan
• Components of Chandrayaan 3.0
• Mission objectives of Chandrayaan 3.0
• Comparing Chandrayaan-1, Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3
• Significance of Going to the Moon

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Details

• Chandrayaan -3 is the third Moon Mission of ISRO that was launched in July 2023 perched on GSLV-MK-3 heavy lift vehicle. It is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 and demonstrated end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving in lunar surface when it landed on the south pole of Moon on 23^rd Aug 2023.
• With this, India has become the fourth country in the world after USA, Russia and China to successfully land on Moon.

A) Understanding the different phases and path taken by Chandrayaan

• LVM-3 launched the Chandrayaan-3 in an elliptical parking orbit of 170 X 36500 km.
• Chandrayaan was launched on 14^th July 2023. The whole process took 42 days, with the landing taking place on Aug 23.

B) Components of Chandrayaan 3.0:

It consists of a Propulsion Module (PM), Lander Module (LM), and a Rover with an objective of developing and demonstrating new technologies required for inter-planetary mission. Note: It doesn’t have an orbiter module.

• Propulsion Module (PM) 

The mains function of PM is to carry the LM from launch vehicle injection till final lunar 100 km circular orbit and separate LM from PM.

This 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.

Note: Lander module separated from propulsion module on Aug 17, 2023. Here propulsion module was still left with 150 kg fuel. Thus, it could remain operational for several years to come.

• The Lander (Vikram) had the capability to soft land at a specified lunar site and deploy rover. It happened on 23^rd Aug 2023. It will remain stationary on the surface and carries four payloads which would record the chemical, thermal, and seismic instruments of the moon’s surface.

Lander Payloads: Lander module has four payloads (Chaste, RAMBHA, ILSA and LRA)

Chandra Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE): To carry out the measurements of thermal properties of lunar surface near polar region.

Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) for measuring the seismicity around the landing site and delineating the structure of the lunar crust and mantle.

RAMBHA- LP (Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and atmosphere) – RAMBHA: To measure the near surface plasma (ions and electrons) density and its changes with time.

A passive Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) from NASA is accommodated for lunar laser ranging studies. It acts as a target for lasers for very accurate measurements for future missions.

• Rover (Pragyaan) is a 6 wheeled robotic vehicle.

Life: One lunar day (14 earth day)

Payload:

Laser Induced breakdown Spectrometer (LIBS): It will determine the chemical and mineral composition of the lunar surface.

Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS): It will determine the composition of elements such as magnesium, aluminium, silicon, potassium, calcium, titanium and iron in the lunar soil and rocks.

Mission objectives of Chandrayaan 3.0

• To demonstrate safe and soft landing on Lunar Surface
• TO demonstrate Rover roving on the moon
• To conduct in-situ experiments.
  • Note: The most important discovery made by instruments on board

Why Landing was the most complicated part?

• Landing is the most complicated part of the mission. The Lander and Rover get ejected at a speed of around 6,000 km/hr and have to be slowed down to roughly 3 km/hr before it lands. Since moon doesn’t have atmosphere, parachute kind of mechanism can’t be used. Here, thrusters had to be fired in opposite direction to slow down the lander.

Where did Lander Land?

• It landed at around 70-degree S near the southern pole of the moon.

Why?

• The site was selected as there are several craters here that are permanent in shade and cane be reservoir of frozen water which is key to the future space mission.

Rover:

• Within a few hours of landing, ISRO also released a 26-kg rover from the lander module, which slided on the ramp to reach the moon’s surface. The six wheeled rover, which is carrying two instruments and moves very slowly, is expected to crawl on the surface for 14 days, conducting chemical and elemental analysis of lunar soil and rocks.

Comparing Chandrayaan-1, Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3

	Chandrayaan-1	Chandrayaan-2	Chandrayaan-3
Year	2008	2019	2023
Rocket Used	PSLV	LVM-3	LVM-3
Payloads	Orbiter + Impactor Module (for crash landing)	Orbiter + Lander (Vikram) + Rover (Pragyan)	Lander + Rover
Successful	Yes	Partially Yes (Lander failed)	Yes
	Perhaps the most important discovery of Chandrayaan-1 was the discovery of water and hydroxyl (OH) molecules in the Moon’s thin atmosphere (exosphere) as well on the lunar surface.   Buried Lava Tubes: The terrain mapping camera and hyperspectral imager on board Chandrayaan-1 detected an underground lava tube, which, scientists believe, can provide a safe environment for human habitation in the future. It can protect against hazardous radiation, small meteoric impacts, extreme temperature and dust storms on the surface.	It helped in separately identifying the water and hydroxyl molecules, and mapping water features across the moon for the first time.

Significance of Going to the Moon:

• It underlined India’s rise as a space and technology powerhouse. It will also strengthen India’s soft power in the global community.
• Since moon is the closest cosmic body to Earth, the plans to explore rest of the universe starts with exploration of the moon. Moon can also act as a promising test bed to demonstrate technologies required for future deep-space missions.
• It would further help “stimulate the advancement of technology, promote global alliances and inspire a future generation of explorers and scientists.”
• Resources: Recent increase in interest in Moon is primarily due to possibility of important minerals being found on Moon.

Way Forward:

• While the current achievement of being the first country to land on the south pole of the moon is commendation, India still needs to do a lot to compete with bigger space giants like USA, and China.
• Look Beyond frugal engineering as it is no longer enough to make a difference to global activity on the moon. To do more impactful moon projects, ISRO needs bigger budgets and more powerful rockets that can arrive quicker and with heavier payloads too.
• Encourage bigger contribution from private sectors: Globally, space programs are being animated by commerce, and private sector is emerging as bigger player than state (E.g SpaceX)
• Increased International Cooperation: Joint programs can be economical, have shorter gestation period, and higher science outputs. Even NASA (USA) has realized that massive space program would not be feasible by external support and hence have launched initiatives like Artemis Accord. India also needs to raise its lunar profile through international cooperation.
• Keep Geopolitics in Mind: Both USA and China have drastically increased their interest and investment in Moon. USA plans to send humans again to moon in 2025 and China plans to do the same before 2030. Given India’s tensed relations with China, India needs to embark on serious negotiations with the USA on the possible terms of mutually beneficial Indian participation in the Artemis Mission.
• Getting domestic and international legal framework ready:
• India needs to follow up its pace policy with legislation that facilitate and regulates space business.
• India also needs to pay serious attention to shaping the global governance of space. The existing international regimes like Outer Space Treaty, 1967 and the 1979 Moon treaty are under considerable stress. Therefore, India should join hands with like-minded nations to reform the current outerspace order.

Conclusion: Chandrayaan-3’s success will inspire generations of scientists and engineers – and all those who seek knowledge – to set the bar higher. For India, the moon is not the destination. It is a springboard.