Rs 600 crore. That's the mammoth cost ISRO is incurring to launch its Chandrayaan-3 mission on July 12th. While this is not the highest cost incurred by ISRO for its missions yet since the cost of Chandrayaan-2 mission was much higher at Rs 960 crore, the soon to be launched Chandrayaan-3 is still turning out to be the most difficult one for India¡¯s national space agency yet.
The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft has already arrived at India's spaceport, the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh¡¯s Sriharikota. It is the third lunar exploration mission by Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) which is all set for a launch in July. The mission is expected to build upon the successes and lessons learned from its predecessors, Chandrayaan-1 and Chandrayaan-2.
According to a Wion report, the spacecraft, which the Isro plans to ¡°precisely¡± land on the Moon later this year, has been wheeled into the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. Under a thick cover of security, the slow-moving, specialised vehicle ferrying the spacecraft from the UR Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru arrived at India's spaceport last Friday evening (May 26).Chandrayaan-3 will be the Launch Vehicle Mark-III or LVM3 rocket's sixth orbital flight, and it has so far succeeded in all its flights, including two commercial missions.
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So, what makes this Chandrayaan mission a significantly more difficult one compared to the previous missions? Its about?learning the art of soft-landing.
The main objective of Chandrayaan-3 is to soft-land a rover on the lunar surface and conduct scientific experiments. Soft-landing a spacecraft on the Moon ¨C or any celestial body ¡ª is tremendously complicated and difficult. Chandrayaan-2, even after successfully reaching a lunar orbit, failed due to its Vikram lander. It deviated from its flight path around 2 km above the lunar surface and made a hard-landing.
Now, Isro wants to try again.?S Somanath, Isro chairman and secretary, Department of Space, stated at the Indian Science Congress that the broader mission aim of Chandrayaan-3 is the same as those of its predecessor, Chandrayaan-2, which was launched in 2019. He said that the key goal is to perform a safe lunar landing and ensure that the lander's on-board rover can escape the lander and traverse the lunar surface, as per ET report.
After the setback with Chandrayaan-2's lander, Vikram, Isro has taken multiple measures to ensure that the third lunar mission accomplishes what its predecessor couldn't. Changes have been made in the software, propulsion system, sensors, and redundancies. Ruggedisation is being built in to handle unexpected situations and failures.?A critical difference to reduce complexity is that the Chandrayaan-3 mission will only be carrying a lunar lander, rover, and propulsion module, unlike its predecessor which carried an orbiter, lander, and rover, the report mentioned.
The broader aim of the mission is to further India¡¯s understanding of the Moon's surface and composition, as well as gather data on lunar topography, mineralogy, and the presence of water molecules. By gathering valuable data, scientists hope to uncover more secrets about the Moon's origin and evolution.
But beyond the scientific angle, showcasing the ability to soft-land a spacecraft is critical from a geopolitical and geo-economic perspective as well. Space exploration beyond lower Earth orbit is no longer something to be done for the sake of it. It has direct impact on various forays including space mining and setting up bases on other planets and celestial bodies. Countries like the United States and China have already demonstrated such capabilities and India cannot afford to lag anymore.
As per the report, the project director of Chandrayaan-3 will be ¡®SF¡¯ P Veeramuthuvel, who will be based at the headquarters of the country's leading space agency in Bengaluru. Known for his technical acumen, Veeramuthuvel was the point of contact for Isro while doing negotiations with Nasa for cooperation on the Chandrayaan-2 mission.
Veeramuthuvel replaced M Vanitha, the project director of Chandrayaan-2. Vanitha has moved to the position of deputy director, payload, data management, and space astronomy area. Ritu Karidhal, after Chandrayaan-2, will continue to be the mission director of the Chandrayaan-3 as well.
On December 7 last year, Veeramuthuvel was named as the leader of the project-management team, which included 29 deputy directors in charge of various mission tasks, including the new lander and rover.
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Isro expects to launch the mission on July 12, 2023, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. India's heaviest rocket LVM3 (earlier known as Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark 3) will put the spacecraft into orbit around the Earth. After a few swings around the Earth, there will be a burn of the propulsion module to inject the spacecraft into a path to the Moon.
The journey to the Moon will then take a few weeks. The lunar landing, on the dark side of the Moon, is scheduled on August 23.
Isro has partnered with the Vienna-based non-governmental organisation Moon Village Association (MVA) to hold global outreach activities in conjunction with Chandrayaan-3, as per the report.
¡°The mission encompasses critical technologies that should reach the global youth to encourage the scientific temperament on lunar missions,¡± media reports quoted Sudheer Kumar N, director, capacity building and public outreach, Isro headquarters, as saying.
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