All You Need to Know About ISRO’s Chandrayaan Spacecraft

The Indian Space Research Organization, popularly known as ISRO has made an official announcement for the launch of the Spacecraft Chandrayaan- 3. With the official announcement of the launch of the Chandrayaan- 3, scheduled on July 13, 2023, at 2:30 PM, Careerindia is providing a detailed insight into the Spacecraft, “Chandrayaan”.

The then Prime Minister of India, Sh 21ri Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced the Chandrayan 1 project in his Independence Day Speech; on 15th August 2003. The mission was a major boost to India’s space program. The idea of an Indian Scientific mission to the moon was first raised in a meeting of the Indian Academy of Sciences in 1999. Soon after, the ISRO set up the National Lunar Mission Task Force and decided that ISRO has the technical expertise to carry out an Indian mission to the Moon. In November 2003, the Indian Government finally gave approval for the mission.

Objectives:

• The Moon is the closest cosmic body about which various discoveries are to be explored and documented. The Moon provides the best linkage to Earth’s early history, which have to be studied in depth.
• It offers an undisturbed historical record of the inner solar system environment that is to be documented for further research. F
• or the preparation of a 3-Dimensional atlas of both the near and far sides of the Moon. to test the impact of a sub-satellite on the surface of the Moon for future soft-landing missions.

In connection with reaching its objectives, the mission defined its Goals as:

• Providing new insights into understanding the moon’s origin and evolution.
• Mapping the height variation on the lunar surface.
• Identification of chemicals in lunar highland rocks.
• High-resolution mineralogical and chemical imaging of North and South Polar regions.
• Searching for surface or sub-surface lunar water- ice, especially at the lunar poles.

During the tenure of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chandrayaan got a boost and finally, Chandrayaan- 1 was launched on October 22, 2008, from Satish Dhawan Space Centre and is expected to operate for 2 years. However, on August 28, 2009; communication with the Spacecraft was suddenly lost.

Chandrayaan- 2 is the first space mission by any country to conduct a soft landing on the Moon’s South Polar Region. It was launched from Shriharikota Space Centre on July 22, 2019, and was expected to land on the Moon on September 7, 2019. The launch vehicle was carrying an orbiter, a rover named ‘Pragyan’, and a lander named ‘Vikram’.

The lift-off mass of Chandrayaan- 1 was 1380kg, whereas Chandrayaan- 2 weighed 3850 kg. On September 2, 2019, Vikram Lander separated from the Orbiter; preparing for landing. But, as intended, the Vikram at the last moments, lost its communication signals on the earth station, and it could not perform a soft landing. Viewing the landing aspect, it can be said this Chandrayaan- 2 mission failed in its objective.

Chandrayaan- 3 spacecraft is the 3rd Lunar exploration expedition, outlined by ISRO. While, Chandrayaan- 2 is comprised of Vikram Lander, Pragyan Rover, and an Orbiter, Chandrayaan- 3 is to be launched with just a lander and a rover. It will use the orbiter already hovering above the Moo, launched with Chandrayaan- 2 for its communication and terrain mapping requirements.

Chandrayaan- 3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan- 2 to demonstrate end-to-end capabilities in safe landing. So far, only three countries have managed a soft landing on the Moon- the erstwhile Soviet Union, the United States, and China. If this mission remains successful, our country- India will be the fourth country to succeed in this job.
The ISRO’s Chandrayaan- 3 has reached the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Shriharikota ahead of its launch planned for July.

Chandrayaan- 3 consists of a lander and rover, and it will be launched by the space agency’s Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM3) system. The launch system’s propulsion module will carry the lander and rover configuration till it reaches a 100 km lunar orbit. The module will also carry the SHAPE ( Spectro- Polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth) which will study the spectral and Polarimetric measurements of Earth from lunar orbit.