India’s Space Programmes: Chandrayaan – 3

India’s space agency, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation), launched its third Moon mission named Chandrayaan-3 in 2023 under the Chandrayaan program. Unlike Chandrayaan-2, this mission focused only on the landing and rover deployment without an orbiter.

Key Events:

The spacecraft entered lunar orbit on 5 August 2023.

On 23 August 2023 at 18:04 IST (12:33 UTC), the Vikram lander successfully soft-landed near the Moon’s south pole (69°S).

This made India:

• The first country to land near the lunar south pole
• The first to succeed on its first landing attempt
• The fourth nation to soft-land on the moon (after the Soviet Union, USA, and China)

The Pragyan rover explored the Moon for 12 Earth days (1 lunar day) before nightfall ended surface operations.

The propulsion module continued its mission, shifting to a high Earth orbit on 22 November 2023, and operated until 22 August 2024, conducting Earth observations.

Achievements:

1. Historic soft landing near the Moon’s south pole, a first in space history.
2. First successful soft landing by India on the Moon, after the Chandrayaan-2 lander crash in 2019, while the orbiter from Chandrayaan-2 remains active and operational.
3. The rover confirmed the presence of sulphur, aluminium, calcium, iron, and other elements in lunar soil.
4. The lander conducted seismic measurements and thermal experiments.
5. The mission was completed successfully within a single lunar day, as intended.
6. ₹615 crore (~US$75 million), one of the most cost-effective lunar missions in the world.

Main Objectives:

• To design and deploy a lander that can land safely and softly on the lunar surface.
• To demonstrate the rover’s driving and mobility capabilities on the Moon.
• To conduct on-site scientific experiments to study the composition and characteristics of the moon’s surface.

Scientific Goals:

1. Study the chemical composition of lunar soil using spectrometers.
2. Observe lunar seismic activity and surface temperature variations.
3. Explore the interaction of solar radiation with the moon’s surface.
4. Collect data from the lunar south pole, which is believed to have water ice and valuable minerals.
5. Use the propulsion module for Earth observation and data relay experiments after lunar mission completion.