Perfect launch, Chandrayaan-3 begins 6-week odyssey to moon
Rs 600 crore estimated cost of Chandrayaan-3 mission
Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, July 14
India’s third lunar probe mission Chandrayaan-3 took off successfully on Friday at 2.35 pm aboard the Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM-3) from the second launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota near Chennai, beginning a far more complicated six-week voyage to reach the lunar south pole where no other nation has gone before.
Orbit to surface four-step journey
- After insertion in lunar orbit, lander module will separate from propulsion module
- The 2m-tall lander will then start its descent towards lunar south pole
- The lander’s 4 mechanical legs will break speed of its descent, thus enabling a gentle landing
- Once lander parks itself, the rover will roll out from inside it through a ramp; it’ll then explore the moon
The spacecraft was placed in the precise geostationary orbit (GTO) by the launcher after about 16 minutes of flight. “The LVM3-M4 vehicle successfully launched Chandrayaan–3 into orbit,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) tweeted.
Crucial dates
July 31, 2023
After continuously orbiting the earth, Chandrayaan-3 to complete earth-bound manoeuvres
August 6
The spacecraft likely to be inserted in the lunar orbit
August 17
Propulsion module to separate from lander module
August 23
Final descent and challenging soft-landing on the moon
3-nation club
with its moon mission, India aims to join US, former USSR and China
Only the US, former Soviet Union and China have been able to achieve soft-landing on the moon. India will join this elite league of three nations if the mission objectives of Chandrayaan-3 —soft-landing on the lunar surface and lowering the rover to explore the moon — are achieved. The spacecraft, consisting of a propulsion module and a lander module with a rover inside it, is slated to complete its journey to the moon, covering a distance of approximately 3.84 lakh km, in three phases over a period of about six weeks. Chandrayaan-3 will first orbit the earth in an elliptical path several times raising its apogee continuously and gather enough momentum to get into the moon’s orbit.
Rover job
The 26-kg rover is armed with a spectrometer to analyse lunar soil and rocks, and a laser-induced spectroscope to derive their chemical composition
After insertion in the lunar orbit, ISRO will manoeuvre it to a circular orbit of 100 km where the lander module will separate from the propulsion module. The lander will then start its descent towards the lunar south pole. Four thrusters installed in the lander will break the speed of its descent, enabling a gentle landing at the end. Once the lander reaches the lunar surface and parks there with the help of its four mechanical legs, the rover will roll out from inside it through a ramp and explore the moon.
Chandrayaan-3 scripts a new chapter in India’s space odyssey. It soars high, elevating the dreams and ambitions of every Indian. — Narendra Modi, pm
“ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network, located at the outskirts of Bengaluru, is handling the job of sending commands to the spacecraft,” Chandrayaan-3 project director P Veeramuthuvel said.
Congratulations, India. Chandrayaan-3 has started its journey towards moon… let us wish the best for the craft for its further orbit-raising manoeuvres. — S Somanath, isro chief
The lander has three payloads. One to measure thermal properties of lunar surface, another to study the near-surface plasma (ions and electrons) density and the third to measure seismicity around landing site. The rover and lander are both expected to operate only for one lunar day (about two earth weeks). The successful launch has united the political leaders across the party lines with PM Narendra Modi calling it a “new chapter” in the country’s space odyssey. President Droupadi Murmu, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, several ministers and opposition leaders lauded the ISRO’s feat.
