Chandrayaan-3

Chandrayaan-3 is the third mission in the Chandrayaan programme, a group of lunar-exploration missions created by ISRO. This mission includes Vikram, a lunar lander, and Pragyan, a lunar rover. These were built to replace similar tools on Chandrayaan-2, which crashed when it was trying to land in 2019.

The spacecraft was launched on July 14, 2023, at 14:35 IST from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India. It entered orbit around the Moon on August 5 and successfully landed near the lunar south pole on August 23, 2023, at 18:04 IST (12:33 UTC). With this landing, ISRO became the fourth space agency to land on the Moon, after the Soviet space program, NASA, and CNSA. It was also the first to land near the lunar south pole.

Because the lander could not survive the cold of the lunar night, it was turned off at sunset, twelve days after landing. The orbiting part of the spacecraft kept working and was used to study Earth. It was moved to a higher orbit around Earth on November 22, 2023, where it is still useful today.

History

Further information: Chandrayaan programme

See also: Lunar south pole

On July 22, 2019, ISRO launched Chandrayaan-2 on a Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3) launch vehicle with an orbiter, a lander, and a rover. The lander was supposed to land on the Moon on September 6, 2019, to release the Pragyan rover. However, it lost contact and crashed while trying to land near the Moon's south pole.

The Moon's south pole is very important for science because it has lots of ice. This ice could help us learn more about the Moon, Earth, and our Solar System. The area's mountains and craters make landing difficult, but the ice could also be useful for future human trips to the Moon, as it could provide water and oxygen.

The European Space Tracking network and Deep Space Network helped support the mission. In a special agreement, they might help India's future space missions, and ISRO will help them in return.

For the first time, a laser from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter was used on December 12, 2023, to bounce off a small mirror on the Vikram lander from Chandrayaan-3. This helped scientists find the lander's exact location near the Moon's south pole. The mirror, called a Laser Retroreflector Array, has eight parts that reflect lasers and can help future spacecraft find their position from far away.

Objectives

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had three main goals for the Chandrayaan-3 mission:

1. To land a spacecraft safely and gently on the Moon's surface.
2. To watch the rover move and show it can drive on the Moon.
3. To do experiments on materials found on the Moon to learn more about what the Moon is made of.

Spacecraft

Chandrayaan-3 has three main parts: a part that moves around, a lander, and a rover.

The part that moves around carried the lander and rover to the Moon. It has big solar panels to make power and can stay warm using special heaters.

The lander, named Vikram, landed softly on the Moon. It has legs and engines to land and carry scientific tools to study the surface.

The rover, named Pragyan, has six wheels and will study the Moon's surface. It will look for water ice and learn about the Moon's history.

Mission profile

Chandrayaan-3 was launched on July 14, 2023, from Sriharikota, India, aboard an LVM3 rocket. It entered lunar orbit on August 5 and successfully landed near the Moon's south pole on August 23, 2023.

The mission included a lander named Vikram and a rover named Pragyan. After landing, the rover explored the lunar surface and sent data back to Earth. The lander and rover were designed to work for about 14 Earth days, which is one lunar day. The mission helped scientists learn more about the Moon.

Team

The Chandrayaan-3 mission was led by several important people. S. Somanath was the chairman of ISRO, the space agency. P. Veeramuthuvel was the project director, and Kalpana Kalahasti served as the associate project director. Other key leaders included Mission Director S. Mohanakumar, Associate Mission Director G. Narayanan, and Vehicle Director Biju C. Thomas.

Funding

In December 2019, the Indian Space Research Organisation asked for money to start the project. They needed about ₹750 crore (US$79 million). Most of this money, ₹600 crore (US$63 million), was for buying tools and machines. The rest, ₹150 crore (US$16 million), was for running costs. A leader from a company that works with ISRO said they saved money by using local parts and designs.

Later in 2020, the former leader of ISRO said the project would cost about ₹615 crore. By 2023, this amount had gone up to about ₹724 crore (US$77 million).

Results

The Associated Press said the mission showed India’s growing role in space technology. They noted that the mission helped India show itself as a strong country in the world.

The instruments on the lander and rover collected important information. One tool studied the Moon’s surface temperature and found big changes in heat at different spots. Another tool found sulfur on the Moon near the south pole for the first time. Scientists also measured the plasma around the Moon and found it to be more powerful than they thought. The lander also recorded vibrations, which might have been from a moonquake. These discoveries help scientists plan future trips to the Moon.

Reactions

Domestic reactions

Many people in India watched the landing of Chandrayaan-3 live on ISRO's official YouTube channel, breaking a record with eight million viewers at the same time.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the ISRO team and announced that the landing spot of the Vikram lander would be called Statio Shiv Shakti. He also declared August 23, the landing day, as National Space Day.

The head of ISRO, S. Somanath, said, "India is on the Moon," after the landing. He mentioned that they learned from past challenges and had much more work ahead to conduct experiments.

The project director, P Veeramuthuvel, expressed great happiness and satisfaction with the mission's success. He noted that everything went perfectly according to plan from launch to landing. The mission director, S. Mohana Kumar, described Chandrayaan-3 as a "team effort."

Former ISRO chief K Sivan, who led the launch of Chandrayaan-2, shared his excitement about this long-awaited success, calling it sweet news for the nation.

Rahul Gandhi, leader of the Indian National Congress, celebrated the achievement, highlighting the hard work and creativity of India's scientific community. He noted that since 1962, India's space program has inspired many young dreamers.

DY Chandrachud, the chief justice of India, praised the landing as a major milestone for the country.

International reactions

Josef Aschbacher, director general of the European Space Agency, congratulated ISRO and the people of India, calling the landing an impressive demonstration of new technologies.

Abdulla Shahid, the foreign minister of Maldives, expressed pride in the achievement as a neighbor and South Asian nation, seeing it as a success for all humanity.

Bill Nelson, administrator of NASA, congratulated ISRO on being the fourth country to successfully land a spacecraft on the Moon and praised the partnership on this mission.

Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa, celebrated the moment as a significant occasion for the BRICS family.

The Kremlin shared a message from Russian president Vladimir Putin to India's president and Prime Minister, congratulating them on the landing near the Moon's South Pole and recognizing India's progress in science and technology.

Nepal's prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal congratulated Prime Minister Modi and the ISRO team on this historic achievement in science and space technology.

Awards

The space agency ISRO received the Leif Erikson Lunar Prize for its work on exploring the Moon in 2023.

Because of the successful Chandrayaan-3 mission, ISRO also received the Aviation Week Laureates Award. The mission team was given the 2024 John L. 'Jack' Swigert Jr. Award for Space Exploration. Additionally, Chandrayaan-3 won the World Space Award from the International Astronautical Federation.