Chandrayaan-3
| Mission type | Lunar Lander and Rover |
|---|---|
| Operator | ISRO |
| COSPAR ID | 2023-098B |
| SATCAT no. | 57320 |
| Website | Official website |
| Mission duration | 11 months and 3 days (elasped) (PM)
|
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Bus | Chandryaan |
| Manufacturer | ISRO |
| Launch mass | 3900 kg |
| Payload mass | Propulsion Module: 2148 kg
Lander Module (Vikram): 1726 kg Rover (Pragyan) 26 kg Total: 3900 kg |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | July 14, 2023 |
| Rocket | LVM3 M4 |
| Launch site | Satish Dhawah Space Centre |
| Contractor | ISRO |
| Orbital parameters | |
| PeriSelene | 153 km (95 mi) |
| ApoSelene | 163 km (101 mi) |
| Moon orbiter | |
| Orbital insertion | August 5, 2023 |
| Moon lander | |
| Spacecraft component | Vikram lander |
| Landing date | August 23, 2023, 18:03 IST (12:33 UTC) |
| Landing site | Shiv Shakti point
69.373°S 32.319°E (between Manzinus C and Simpelius N craters) |
| Moon rover | |
| Landing date | August 23, 2023 |
| Distance driven | 101.4 m (333 ft) |
Chandrayaan programme | |
Chandrayaan-3 (/ˌtʃʌndrəˈjɑːn/ CHUN-drə-YAHN) is the third mission in the Chandrayaan programme, a series of lunar-exploration missions developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Launched on 14 July 2023, the mission consists of a lunar lander named Vikram and a lunar rover named Pragyan, similar to those launched aboard Chandrayaan-2 in 2019.
Chandrayaan-3 was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on 14 July 2023. The spacecraft entered lunar orbit on 5 August, and the lander touched down near the lunar south polar region on 23 August at 12:33 UTC, making India the fourth country to successfully land on the Moon, and the first to do so near the region of the lunar south pole. On 3 September the lander hopped and repositioned itself 30–40 cm (12–16 in) from its landing site.
The Vikram lander and Pragyan rover were set to sleep on 2 September and 4 September respectively due to depleting solar power with sunset at the landing site. on September 30, 2023, the second lunar day began eliminating hopes of revival of the lander and rover.
Background[edit]
On 22 July 2019, ISRO launched Chandrayaan-2 on board a Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3) launch vehicle consisting of an orbiter, a lander and a rover. The lander was scheduled to touch down on the lunar surface on 6 September 2019 to deploy the Pragyan rover. The lander lost contact with mission control, deviated from its intended trajectory while attempting to land near the lunar south pole, and crashed.
The lunar south pole region holds particular interest for scientific exploration. Studies show large amounts of ice there. Mountainous terrain and unpredictable lighting protect the ice from melting, but they also make landing scientific probes there a challenging undertaking. The ice could contain solid-state compounds that would normally melt under warmer conditions elsewhere on the Moon—compounds which could provide insight into lunar, Earth, and Solar System history. For future crewed missions and outposts, ice could also be a source of drinking water and of hydrogen for fuel and oxygen.
The European Space Tracking network (ESTRACK), operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), and Deep Space Network operated by Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of NASA are supporting the mission. Under a new cross-support arrangement, ESA tracking support could be provided for upcoming ISRO missions such as those of India's first human spaceflight programme, Gaganyaan, and the Aditya-L1 solar research mission. In return, future ESA missions will receive similar support from ISRO's own tracking stations.
Objectives[edit]
ISRO's mission objectives for the Chandrayaan-3 mission are:
- Engineering and implementing a lander to land safely and softly on the surface of the Moon.
- Observing and demonstrating the rover's driving capabilities on the Moon.
- Conducting and observing experiments on the materials available on the lunar surface to better understand the composition of the Moon.
Spacecraft[edit]
Design[edit]
Chandrayaan-3 comprises three main components: a propulsion module, lander, and rover.
Propusion module[edit]
The propulsion module carries the lander and rover configuration to a 100-kilometre (62 mi) lunar orbit. It is a box-like structure with a large solar panel mounted on one side and a cylindrical mounting structure for the lander (the Intermodular Adapter Cone) on top.
Lander[edit]
The Vikram lander is responsible for the soft landing on the Moon. It is also box-shaped, with four landing legs and four landing thrusters capable of producing 800 newtons of thrust each. It carries the rover and various scientific instruments to perform on-site analysis. The lander has four variable-thrust engines with slew rate changing capabilities, unlike Chandrayaan-2's lander, which had five, with the fifth one being centrally mounted and capable only of fixed thrust. One of the main reasons for Chandrayaan-2's landing failure was attitude increase during the camera coasting phase. This was removed by allowing the lander to control attitude and thrust during all phases of descent. Attitude correction rate is increased from Chandrayaan-2's 10°/s to 25°/s with Chandrayaan-3. Additionally, the Chandrayaan-3 lander is equipped with a laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV) to allow measuring attitude in three directions. The impact legs have been made stronger compared to Chandrayaan-2 and instrumentation redundancy has been improved. It will target a more precise 16 km2 (6.2 sq mi) landing region based on images previously provided by the Orbiter High-Resolution Camera (OHRC) onboard Chandrayaan-2's orbiter. ISRO improved the structural rigidity, increased polling in instruments, increased data frequency and transmission, and added additional multiple contingency systems to improve lander survivability in the event of failure during descent and landing.
Rover[edit]
The Pragyan rover is a six-wheeled vehicle with a mass of 26 kilograms (57 pounds). It is 917 millimetres (3.009 ft) x 750 millimetres (2.46 ft) x 397 millimetres (1.302 ft) in size. The rover is expected to take multiple measurements to support research into the composition of the lunar surface, the presence of water ice in the lunar soil, the history of lunar impacts, and the evolution of the Moon's atmosphere.
Payloads[edit]
On lander[edit]
- Chandra's Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) will measure the thermal conductivity and temperature of the lunar surface.
- Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) will measure the seismicity around the landing site.
- Langmuir Probe (LP) will estimate the near-surface plasma density over time.
On rover[edit]
- An alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS) will derive the chemical composition and infer the mineralogical composition of the lunar surface.
- Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) will determine the elemental composition (Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, Fe) of lunar soil and rocks around the lunar landing site.
On the propulsion module[edit]
- Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) will study spectral and polarimetric measurements of Earth from the lunar orbit in the near-infrared (NIR) wavelength range (1–1.7 μm). Findings of SHAPE might aid in future exoplanet research and search for extraterrestrial life.
Mission profile[edit]
Launch[edit]
Chandrayaan-3 was launched aboard an LVM3-M4 rocket on 14 July 2023, at 09:05 UTC from Satish Dhawan Space Centre Second Launch Pad in Sriharakota, Andhra Pradesh, India entering an Earth parking orbit with a perigee of 170 km (106 mi) and an apogee of 36,500 km (22,680 mi).
Orbit[edit]
After a series of Earth bound maneuvers that placed Chandrayaan-3 in a trans-lunar injection orbit, ISRO performed a lunar-orbit insertion (LOI) on 5 August, successfully placing the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft into an orbit around the Moon. The LOI operation was carried out from the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking, and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru.
On 17 August, the Vikram lander separated from the propulsion module to begin the last phase of the mission.
Landing[edit]
On 23 August 2023, as the lander approached the low point of its orbit, its four engines fired as a breaking maneuver at 30 kilometers (19 mi) above the Moon's surface. After 11.5 minutes, the lander was 7.2 km (4.5 miles) above the surface; it maintained this altitude for about 10 seconds, then stabilized itself using eight smaller thrusters and rotated from a horizontal to a vertical position while continuing its descent.
It then used two of its four engines to slow its descent to roughly 150 meters (490 ft); it hovered there for about 30 seconds and located an optimal landing spot before continuing downward and touching down at 12:33 UTC.
