ALL YOU GOTTA KNOW ABOUT CHANDRAYAAN-3 MISSION!

After the unfortunate Chandrayaan-2 mission, ISRO is now ready to go off for another mission to the moon. India’s first mission to the moon was in 2008 called ‘Chandrayaan-1’.

Among the countries including the Soviet Union, the United States, Japan, the European Space Agency, China, Luxembourg, Israel, Italy, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates, INDIA is also one of them competing in the race.

Chandrayaan 2 was launched on 22 July 2019. After it, this is the year.

Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to perform end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.

It consists of Lander and Rover. well, It will be launched by LVM3 from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota.

LANDER AND A ROVER OF CHANDRAYAAN-3 MISSION

The propulsion module will carry the lander and rover configuration till the 100 km lunar orbit. The propulsion module also has a ‘Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE)’ payload that will study the spectral and Polari metric measurements that will hence study Earth from the lunar orbit.

Let's understand why are we exactly doing this mission:

The mission objectives of Chandrayaan-3 are:

1. To perform a Safe and Soft Landing on Lunar Surface

2. To demonstrate Rover roving on the moon and

3. To conduct in-situ scientific experiments. (In-situ: in the original place)

4. India wants to look at the Moon’s surface, particularly in regions that haven’t seen sunlight in a few billion years. These darker regions of the moon's surface may contain ice and actual rich mineral deposits, according to many scientists and astronomers.

DETAILED IMAGE OF A ROVER

According to ISRO, the Chandrayaan-3 mission will cost more than Rs 600 crores in total. In contrast, the Chandrayaan-2 mission cost a total of Rs 960 crores.

But still less and more efficient than any other country.

What happened to Chandrayaan 2?

• The Chandrayaan-2 mission, which was aborted in 2019 after making a rough landing on the Moon’s dark side, is still operational thanks to its orbiter that is still in place.

• In the last seconds when the lander was about to land, it crashed and was completely destroyed.

• Chandrayaan 2’s main goal was to show off its capacity to soft-land on the moon’s surface and control a robotic rover there.

• But in the past two years, the Chandrayaan-2 mission’s Orbiter and other instruments have gathered a lot of new data that has widened our understanding of the Moon and its surroundings. This is super cool, isn’t it?

What information did ISRO get back?

We got the most accurate data that H20 water molecules are present on the moon.

We have found that the elements chromium, manganese, and sodium have all been discovered for the first time. The discovery may open up new opportunities for us to research planetary exploration, nebular conditions, and lunar evolution.

Understanding the solar flares outside the earth's atmosphere.

Studying the darker unexplored part of the moon and its various craters might give us information and history about the moon.

Why are we interested in studying the moon?

• The Moon is the closest celestial body at which space discovery can be attempted and documented.

• It can also be used as a test bed to demonstrate technologies required for deep-space missions just like a food court stop on a long highway. Just to refuel your spacecraft.

• Moon also has an important link to Earth’s early history.

• It could also open the doors to understanding the evolution of the whole solar system.

Why are moon's south pole is the landing location?

• The shadow-covered portion of the lunar surface at the South Pole is way bigger than the North Pole, which makes it interesting.

• There might be a chance that regions near it that are always in darkness contain water.

• A fossil record of the early Solar System can also be found in cold trapped areas and craters near the South Pole.

• The craters found at the southern pole are of great interest to scientists. They think the mysterious fossil records of the early planetary system may be present in these cold traps.