India launched its ambitious Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon. Chandrayaan-3 was launched on July 14, 2023 from Satish Dhawan Space Center SHAR, Sriharikota. Chandrayaan-3 is the third lunar mission designed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to explore the Moon. It will have a lander and a rover similar to Chandrayaan-2, but will not have an orbiter.
The spacecraft was launched on the Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM3), India's heaviest rocket on its journey to the Moon. The spacecraft will complete the 3,84,000 km long journey in about 45 days to attempt a soft landing on the Moon by the end of August.
Chandrayaan-3 consists of an indigenous Lander Module (LM), Propulsion Module (PM) and a Rover, aimed at developing and demonstrating new technologies required for inter-planetary missions. The lander will have the capability to perform a soft landing at a designated lunar site and deploy the rover which will perform in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during its mobility. The lander and rover carry scientific payloads to perform experiments on the lunar surface.
The main function of the PM is to propel the LM from launch vehicle injection to the final lunar 100 km circular polar orbit and to separate the LM from the PM. In addition, the propulsion module also has a scientific payload as a value addition which will be operated after the separation of the lander module.
Objectives of Chandrayaan 3
ISRO has set three main objectives for the Chandrayaan-3 mission, which include:
- Safe and soft landing of the lander is being done on the lunar surface.
- Observation and demonstration of the rover's maneuvering capabilities on the Moon.
- To conduct scientific experiments on the chemical and natural elements, soil, water etc. available on the surface of the Moon to better understand its composition and to apply its science.