ISRO Chandrayaan 3: India Prepares for Historic Soft Landing on Moon's South Pole

The world's eye is on the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chandrayaan -3 mission as it attempts to successfully become the first spacecraft to land on the Moon's south pole. No country has ever landed its lander or Rover on the Moon's south pole. The Chandrayaan -3 mission will attempt to land a lander, Vikarm and a rover, Pragyaan, on the Moon's surface on 23rd August 2023. It will be the second attempt of ISRO after 2019 to land a lander on the Moon's south pole.  

The ISRO mission has also gained importance worldwide as the Russian attempt to land its lunar lander, Luna 25, has crashed.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) mission to study the Moon is called Chandrayaan. The Chandrayaan mission was the first deep space mission of ISRO. So far, ISRO has already launched three missions to the Moon named Chandrayaan -1,2 and 3. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced the Chandrayaan programme in his Independence Day speech on 15th August 2003.

Only three countries, the United States of America, the Soviet Union (now Russia) and China, have successfully landed their landers and rovers on the Moon.

The first country to successfully land a rover on the Moon was the Soviet Union. Luna 17 lander carrying the Rover Lunokhod 1  successfully landed on the moon's surface on 17th November 1970.

Chandrayaan -3 mission

Chandrayaan-3 was launched by ISRO from Sriharikota on 14th July 2023 on a GSLV- Mark III (LVM-3) heavy-lift rocket. The spacecraft consists of a lander named Vikram and a rover named Pragyan. Unlike Chandrayaan -2, there is no orbiter in the Chandrayaan -3 mission. The estimated budget of the mission is Rs 615 crore.

The Chandrayaan-3 lander Vikram is about 2 meters tall and has a mass of just over 1,700 kg. It is carrying a 26-kg lunar rover named Pragyaan. The lunar Rover Pragyaan will conduct a series of experiments, including a spectrometer analysis of the mineral composition of the lunar surface.

The lander will attempt to touch down on the Moon and then deploy the Rover on 23rd August 2023.

The mission objective of Chandrayaan -3

According to ISRO, the mission objectives of Chandrayaan-3 are:

• To demonstrate a Safe and Soft Landing on the Lunar Surface
• To demonstrate Rover roving on the Moon and
• To conduct in-situ scientific experiments.

Mission life of Chandrayaan -3 

Both Vikram and Pragyan are designed to operate for one lunar day (14 Earth days).

Chandrayaan -2 mission 

Chandrayaan-2 was launched by ISRO on July 22, 2019, on a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III(GSLV-Mark III) from Satish Dhawan Space Center on Sriharikota island , Andhra Pradesh. The estimated budget of the mission was Rs 978 crore.

The spacecraft consisted of an orbiter, a lander named Vikram, and a rover named Pragyan(Sanskrit meaning wisdom). 

The orbiter is still circling the Moon in a polar orbit at a height of 100 km and has a planned mission lifetime of seven and a half years.

The mission's Vikram lander (named after ISRO founder Vikram Sarabhai) was planned to land on 7 September 2019 in the south polar region of the Moon, where water ice could be found under the surface. 

Vikram and Pragyan were designed to operate for one lunar day (14 Earth days). However, just before Vikram touched down on the Moon, contact was lost at an altitude of 2 km.

Chandrayaan -1 Mission 

It was ISRO's first deep space mission. The 590 kg Chandrayaan-I- I was launched on 22nd October 2008 by ISRO on a  PSLV-C11 launch vehicle from Satish Dhawan Space Center on Sriharikota island, Andhra Pradesh. The estimated budget for the mission was Rs. 386 crores.

Chandrayaan -I mission carried a Moon Impact Probe (MIP) designed to test systems for future landings and study the thin lunar atmosphere before crashing on the Moon's surface. 

ISRO deliberately crashed MIP near the Shackleton crater at the south pole of the Moon on 14th November 2008. But before it crashed, it discovered small amounts of water in the Moon's atmosphere.

The Chandrayaan -1 mission was designed to last two years, but ISRO lost radio contact on 29 August 2009. However, Chandrayaan-1 was later discovered by NASA in 2017, still orbiting the Moon.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) 

• It was set up on 15th August 1969
• It is India's national space agency.
• Vikram Sarabhai is considered the founder of ISRO and was the first chairman of ISRO.
• Headquarters: Bengaluru
• Chairman: S.Somanath