Last Update: May 18, 2023, 7:36 PM IST
In March this year, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft successfully completed the required tests, which validated its ability to withstand the harsh vibration and acoustic environment that the spacecraft would encounter during its launch. (File photo/News18)
The Chandrayaan-3 mission carries scientific instruments to study the thermo-physical properties of the lunar regolith, lunar seismicity, lunar surface plasma environment, and elemental composition in the vicinity of the landing site.
If things go according to plan, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will launch its ambitious Chandrayaan-3 mission in less than two months with an aim to demonstrate key technologies to land the spacecraft on the Moon’s south pole. Will do
The Chandrayaan-3 mission carries scientific instruments to study the thermo-physical properties of lunar regolith, lunar seismicity, lunar surface plasma environment, and elemental composition in the vicinity of the landing site.
“The Chandrayaan-3 mission is scheduled in the second week of July,” a senior official of the Bengaluru-headquartered national space agency under the Department of Space said on Thursday.
While the scope of these scientific instruments on the lander and rover will fit the theme of ‘Science of the Moon’, another experimental instrument will study the spectro-polarimetric signature of Earth from lunar orbit, which will fit the theme. According to ISRO officials, ‘Science from the Moon’.
In March this year, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft successfully completed the required tests, which validated its ability to withstand the harsh vibration and acoustic environment that the spacecraft would encounter during its launch.
These tests were particularly challenging, considering the fact that the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, which would be launched by LVM3 (Launch Vehicle Mark-III) (earlier referred to as GSLV Mk III) from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota, There is a combination of three modules. – Propulsion, Lander and Rover.
“Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-up mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and go-around on the lunar surface. This includes the lander and rover configuration”, said an ISRO official.
The propulsion module, which carries the Spectro-Polarimeter of a Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload to study spectral and polar metric measurements of Earth from lunar orbit, will carry the lander and rover configuration to a 100 km lunar orbit.
The lander payloads are: ‘Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment’ to measure thermal conductivity and temperature; ‘Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity’ to measure seismicity around the landing site; and ‘Langmuir Probe’ to estimate the plasma density and its variations.
A passive laser retroreflector array from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the US space agency, has also been accommodated for lunar laser ranging studies.
The rover payloads are: ‘Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer’ and ‘Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy’ to obtain elemental composition in the vicinity of the landing site.
The lander will have the capability to soft land at a designated lunar site and deploy the rover which will perform in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during its mobility.
The main function of the propulsion module is to lift and separate the lander module from launch vehicle injection to the final lunar 100 km circular polar orbit. In addition, the propulsion module also has a scientific payload as a value addition which will be operated after the separation of the lander module, it was noted.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI,
