What is the main task of India’s third moon mission which could not be achieved in its earlier mission? List the countries that have achieved this task. Introduce the subsystems in the spacecraft launched and explain the role of the ‘Virtual Launch Control Centre’ at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
1. Main task: demonstrate a safe soft
Main task: demonstrate a safe soft landing on the lunar surface, the objective that failed with Chandrayaan-2’s Vikram lander in 2019.
2. Before India
Before India, only the USA, the Soviet Union/Russia and China had achieved soft landings on the Moon.
3. Chandrayaan-3 comprised three subsystems: the Propulsion
Chandrayaan-3 comprised three subsystems: the Propulsion Module, the Vikram Lander Module and the Pragyan Rover.
4. The propulsion module ferried the lander-rover
The propulsion module ferried the lander-rover stack to lunar orbit and carries SHAPE, studying Earth’s spectro-polarimetric signature.
5. Vikram carried ChaSTE
Vikram carried ChaSTE, ILSA and RAMBHA-LP instruments to measure surface thermal, seismic and plasma properties, and performed a hop test.
6. Pragyan rover analysed south-pole soil chemistry
Pragyan rover analysed south-pole soil chemistry using LIBS and APXS instruments over its traverse of the landing site.
7. The lander’s LHDAC cameras aided hazard
The lander’s LHDAC cameras aided hazard detection, with imaging and telemetry support from Chandrayaan-2’s orbiter and ISRO tracking stations.
8. The Virtual Launch Control Centre at
The Virtual Launch Control Centre at Satish Dhawan Space Centre enabled secure remote monitoring of the launch through digitalised, web-based operations.
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