Chandrayaan 3 

In News: Chandrayaan 3

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched its 3rd lunar mission – Chandrayaan 3 which aims to be the world’s first mission to soft-land near the lunar south pole.

About Chandrayaan 3

• It is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.
• It consists of:
  1. An indigenous Lander module (LM): for soft landing and deployment Rover.
  2. Propulsion module (PM): To carry the lander and rover configuration till 100 km lunar orbit.
  3. Rover: To carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface.
• Mission Life of Lander and Rover will be One lunar day (~14 Earth days).
• It was launched by Launch Vehicle Mark-III or LVM3 from, Sriharikota.
• If the mission is successful, India will become the 4th country along with the United States, China and Russia to successfully perform a controlled landing on the Moon.

Objectives of the Chandrayaan 3

• To study the lunar surface and its mineral composition, as well as to search for water ice deposits.
• It will also study the Moon’s atmosphere and the interaction between the solar wind and the lunar surface.
• The data collected by the mission will be used to further our understanding of the Moon’s origin and evolution, as well as its potential as a resource for future human exploration

To achieve the mission objectives, several advanced technologies are present in Lander such as, Altimeters, Velocimeters, Inertial Measurement, Propulsion System (Throttleable Liquid Engines), Navigation, Guidance & Control (NGC), Hazard Detection and Avoidance (Lander Hazard Detection & Avoidance Camera and Processing Algorithm) & Landing Leg Mechanism.

About LVM3 (Launch Vehicle Mark 3 (LVM3) (previously known as GSLV-MK III))

• LVM3 is the new heavy lift launch vehicle of ISRO for achieving a 4000 kg spacecraft launching capability to GTO (Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit) in a cost-effective manner.
• LVM3 is configured as a three-stage vehicle with two solid strap-on motors (S200), one liquid core stage (L110) and a high thrust cryogenic upper stage (C25).

Earlier Moon Missions by India