What is Chandrayan 3

Chandrayaan-3 . Moon-craft, [6] is the third Indian lunar exploration mission under the Indian Space Research Organization's (ISRO) Chandrayaan program.[6] It consists of a lander named Vikram and a rover named Pragyan, similar to those of the Chandrayaan-2 mission. The propulsion module carried the lander and rover configuration to lunar orbit in preparation for a powered descent by the lander.[7][8]

Chandrayaan-3

Chandrayaan-3 Integrated Module in clean room

Mission type

Lander Rover

Operator

ISRO

COS PAR ID

2023-098B

SAT CAT no.

57320

Mission duration

1 month and 10 days (elapsed)

Propulsion module: ≤ 3 to 6 months (planned) 19 days (elapsed) (since orbit insertion)

Vikram lander: ≤ 14 days (planned) 1 day (elapsed) (since landing)

Pragyan rover: ≤ 14 days (planned) 1 day (elapsed) (since deployment)

Spacecraft properties

Bus

Chandrayaan

Manufacturer

ISRO

Launch mass

3900 kg[1]

Payload mass

Propulsion Module: 2148 kg

Lander Module (Vikram): 1726 kg

Rover (Pragyan) 26 kg

Total: 3900 kg

Power

Propulsion Module: 758 W

Lander Module: 738 W

WS with Bias Rover: 50 W

Start of mission

Launch date

14 July 2023 14:35:17 IST, (9:05:17 UTC)[2]

Rocket

LVM3 M4

Launch site

Satish Dhawan Space Center

Contractor

ISRO

Moon orbiter

Orbital insertion

5 August 2023

Orbital parameters

Pericynthion altitude

153 km (95 mi)

Apocynthion altitude

163 km (101 mi)

Moon lander

Spacecraft component

Vikram lander

Landing date

23 August 2023 18:02 IST, (12:32 UTC)[3]

Landing site

69.367621°S 32.348126°E[4]

(between Manzinus C and Simpelius N craters)[5]

Moon rover

Landing date

23 August 2023

Chandrayaan program

← Chandrayaan-2LUPEX →

Chandrayaan-3 was launched on 14 July 2023. The lander and rover landed at the lunar South Pole region[9] on 23 August 2023 at 18:02 IST, making India the first country to successfully land a spacecraft near the lunar South Pole [10] and the fourth country to soft-land on the Moon.[11][12][13][14](NIR) wavelength range (1–1.7 μm [3.9×10−5–6.7×10−5 in]).[8][7]

Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APS X)

Chandra's Surface Thermophysical Experiment (Chaste)

Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (I LSA)

Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (IBS)

Langmuir Probe (RAMBHA-LP)

Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE)

Mission profile

Animation of Chandrayaan-3

Around the Earth – Orbit raising phase

Around the Earth

Around the Moon

Chandrayaan-3's Path · Earth · Moon

Launch

LVM3 M4, Chandrayaan-3 – Launch vehicle lifting off from the second launch pad of SDSC-SHAR, Sriharikota

Chandrayaan-3 was launched aboard an LVM3-M4 rocket on 14 July 2023, at 2:35 pm IST from Satish Dhawan Space Center Second Launch Pad in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, India, entering an Earth parking orbit with a perigee of 170 km (106 mi) and an apogee of 36,500 km (22,680 mi).

Orbit

After a series of maneuvers that placed Chandrayaan-3 in a trans-lunar injection orbit, [29][30][31] ISRO performed a lunar-orbit insertion (LOI) on 5 August, successfully placing the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft into an orbit around the Moon. The LOI operation was carried out from the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking, and Command Network (IST RAC) located in Bengaluru.[32][33]

On 17 August, the Vikram lander separated from the propulsion module to begin the last phase of the mission.[34]

Descent

On 23 August 2023, as the lander approached the low point of its orbit, its four engines fired as a braking maneuver at 30 kilometers (19 mi) above the Moon's surface. After 11.5 minutes, the lander was 7.2 km (4.5 miles) above the surface; it maintained its altitude for about 10 seconds, then stabilized itself using eight smaller thrusters and rotated from a horizontal to a vertical position while continuing its descent.

It then used two of its four engines to slow its descent to roughly 150 meters (490 ft); it hovered there for about 30 seconds and located an optimal landing spot before continuing downward and touching down at 12:32 UTC.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. It consists of Lander and Rover configuration. It will be launched by LVM3 from SDSC SHA R, Sriharikota. The propulsion module will carry the lander and rover configuration till 100 km lunar orbit. The propulsion module has Spectro-polarmetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload to study the spectral and Polar metric measurements of Earth from the lunar orbit.