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ISRO Counts Down To Launch Of Chandrayaan-3 Mission Today

By LokMarg 14th July 2023

With only hours left for the lift-off, anticipation is building around the launch India’s third lunar exploration mission, Chandrayaan-3, by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), on Friday.

The GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle, which will release the moon lander and rover into space, will lift off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota at 2.35 pm.
The countdown for the launch began on Thursday at 14:35:17 IST, ahead of the lift-off on Friday.

Chandrayaan-3 will be ISRO’s follow-up attempt after the Chandrayaan-2 mission faced challenges during its soft landing on the lunar surface in 2019 and was eventually deemed to have failed its mission objectives.

The ‘Launch Rehearsal’ simulating the entire launch preparation and process was concluded earlier by the ISRO.

Chandrayaan-3 is equipped with a lander, a rover and a propulsion module. It weighs around 3,900 kilograms.

The ISRO’s third lunar exploration mission is equipped with eight payloads. The experiments to be carried out by Chandrayan 3 include the Vikram lander (named after Space scientist Vikram Sarabhai) which will carry 4 instruments, Pragyan (Saanskrit for Wisdom) rover will carry two instruments and Propulsion Module or the Orbiter will carry one experiment.

Vikram lander’s experiments include Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) to measure surface thermal properties, Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) to measure seismicity around the landing site, Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA) to study the gas and plasma environment, and Passive laser retroreflector array provided by NASA for lunar ranging studies.

While the Pragyan (Saanskrit for Wisdom) rover will carry two instruments to study the surface elemental composition — Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) that will help determine the elemental composition of the lunar soil and rocks around the landing site and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) which will conduct qualitative and quantitative elemental analysis in order to infer the chemical and mineralogical composition of the lunar surface.

The Propulsion Module or the Orbiter will carry Spectropolarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) to study Earth’s spectral and polarimetric measurements from lunar orbit. This helps scientists analyse the reflected light from exoplanets and determine whether they would qualify for habitability.

The journey from Earth to the moon for the spacecraft is estimated to take about a month and the landing is expected on August 23.

Upon landing, it will operate for one lunar day, which is approximately 14 Earth days. One day on the Moon is equal to 14 days on Earth.

K Sivan, former director of ISRO, told ANI that the success of mission Chandrayan-3 will give a morale boost to programmes like Gaganyan, India’s first manned space mission.

Chandrayaan-3’s development phase commenced in January 2020 with the launch planned sometime in 2021, but the Covid-19 pandemic brought an unforeseen delay to the mission’s progress.

The major discovery of the Chandrayaan-1 mission, launched in 2008, was the detection of water (H2O) and hydroxyl (OH) on the lunar surface. Data mined by the rover then also revealed their enhanced abundance towards the polar region.

The primary science objective of the mission was to prepare a three-dimensional atlas of both the near and far sides of the Moon and to conduct chemical and mineralogical mapping of the entire lunar surface with high spatial resolution, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre under ISRO had said.

Moon serves as a repository of the Earth’s past and a successful lunar mission by India will help enhance life on Earth while also enabling it explore the rest of the solar system and beyond.

Director of Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO), S Somanath, said earlier that if everything goes well, the spacecraft will land on the moon on August 23.

The date has been decided based on the sunrise on the moon, he said, adding that if it gets delayed, the landing may take place next month. (ANI)

Chandrayaan-3 Mission Countdown Begins Tomorrow

By LokMarg 12th July 2023

Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar exploration mission, will make India the fourth country to land its spacecraft on the surface of the moon and demonstrate the country’s abilities for safe and soft landing on lunar surface.

The countdown for the launch of mission will begin on Thursday ahead of take off on Friday from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

“Mission Readiness Review is completed. The board has authorised the launch. The countdown begins tomorrow,” ISRO said in a tweet.

It will be launched on a GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy lift launch vehicle

This will be Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) follow-up attempt after Chandrayaan-2 mission faced challenges during its soft landing in 2019.

The ‘Launch Rehearsal’ simulating the entire launch preparation and process has been concluded by the ISRO.

If all goes well, Chandrayaan-3 will be the first spacecraft to land on Moon’s South Pole, demonstrating India’s technical prowess and bold spacefaring ambitions.

Chandrayaan-3 mission will demonstrate safe and soft landing on lunar surface, rover roving on the moon and conduct in-situ scientific experiments.

ISRO invited citizens to witness the launch of the much-awaited Chandrayaan-3 from the viewing gallery at Sriharikota.

During Chandrayaan-2 mission, ISRO lost contact with the lander when it was just a notch away from the moon’s surface.

The journey from earth to the moon for the to-be-launched spacecraft is estimated to take around a month and the landing is expected on August 23. Upon landing, it will operate for one lunar day, which is approximately 14 earth days. One day on Moon is equal to 14 days on earth.

K Sivan, former director of ISRO, told ANI that success of mission Chandrayan-3 will give a morale boost to programs like Gaganyan.

“We understood what went wrong with Chandrayan-2 when we could not land on the moon surface, we recreated the failure modes and we ensured that this time we have success. The challenge is the same as Chandrayan-2, same environment for landing. This time we hope that we have done enough based on the lesson of Chandrayan-2 that gives us more confidence. In space there are always unknown unknowns…hope that all issues are addressed and that we emerge with success,” he said.

“We are getting tech landing on a celestial body. By landing successfully, we will acquire landing technology and it will be good for future generations. A number of scientific experiments are planned and scientists will have more knowledge of moon’s geology and earth’s origin,” he added.

Mylswamy Annadurai, Mission Director of Chandrayaan-1, said Chandrayaan-3 is a very important mission.

“We have shown that we can orbit, but we could not do a soft landing, By doing so this time we can show that Chandrayan-1 was not an isolated success. Internationally, the world is looking back to the moon, the real seeding for that came from Chandrayaan-1. So we need to make this mission successful,” he told ANI.

“Hard lessons were learnt from Chandrayaan 1 and 2. At every step, we are supposed to have a plan B. There were some setbacks in Chandrayaan- 2. This time we are back on track. We are clear on what we want to do and it will ensure we can softly land on the surface of the moon. Target of landing is also larger, all elements have been tested multiple times, we hope this is a success…,” he added.

Chandrayaan-3’s development phase commenced in January 2020 with plans to launch it somewhere in 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused delays in the development process.

The major discovery of the Chandrayaan-1 mission, launched in 2008, is the detection of water (H2O) and hydroxyl (OH) on the lunar surface. Data also revealed their enhanced abundance towards the polar region.

“The primary science objective of the mission was to prepare a three dimensional atlas of both near and far side of the Moon and to conduct chemical and mineralogical mapping of the entire lunar surface with high spatial resolution,” Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre under ISRO had said.

Moon serves as a repository of earth’s past and a successful lunar mission by India will help in enhancing life on Earth and prepare to explore the rest of the solar system — and beyond.

Director of Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO), S Somanath, had said that if everything goes well, the spacecraft will land on the moon on August 23.

The date has been decided based on sunrise on the moon but if it gets delayed, then landing may take place next month, he said. (ANI)

ISRO Completes ‘Launch Rehearsal’ Of Chandrayaan-3

By LokMarg 11th July 2023

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Tuesday completed the ‘launch rehearsal’ for Chandrayaan-3 which will be launched on July 14 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.

“Chandrayaan-3 mission: The ‘Launch Rehearsal’ simulating the entire launch preparation and process lasting 24 hours has been concluded,” ISRO tweeted.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on July 5 integrated the encapsulated assembly containing Chandrayaan-3 with the launch vehicle– LVM3 at Satish Dhawan Space Centre here.

“Today, at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, the encapsulated assembly containing Chandrayaan-3 is mated with LVM3,” tweeted ISRO.

The space agency’s chairman S Somnath last month told ANI that they are planning for the launch day of its third lunar mission between July 13-19.

“We will be able to do a soft landing on the moon. The launch day is July 13, it can go upto 19th,” Somnath had said.

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

Earlier in October last year, the ISRO chairman said that it is likely to launch its Chandrayan-3 mission in June 2023.

Chandrayaan-2, India’s second mission to the moon, was launched on July 22, 2019, from Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota. But the mission failed after the Vikram lunar lander crashed on the Moon during the early hours of September 6. (ANI)