A Journey into India's Mission to the Moon- Chandrayaan Mission
India’s space program has made significant strides in space exploration, and one of its most notable achievements is the Chandrayaan mission. Chandrayaan, meaning “moon vehicle” in Sanskrit and Hindi, represents India’s pursuit of scientific discoveries and advancements in lunar exploration. In this blog post, we will delve into the remarkable journey of Chandrayaan, highlighting its key objectives, milestones, and groundbreaking discoveries.
The Genesis of Chandrayaan
The idea of undertaking an Indian scientific mission to the Moon was initially mooted in a meeting of the Indian Academy of Sciences in 1999, which was followed up by discussions in the Astronautical Society of India in 2000. Based on the recommendations made by the learned members of these forums, a National Lunar Mission Task Force was constituted by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). On August 15, 2003, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced the Chandrayaan program. Subsequently, the Government of India approved ISRO’s proposal for the first Indian Moon Mission, called Chandrayaan-1, in November 2003.
Chandrayaan-1 : India's First Lunar Mission
Chandrayaan-1 was India’s first mission to the Moon. The name Chandrayaan means “Chandra” (Moon) and “Yaan” (vehicle) in Indian languages (Sanskrit and Hindi), referring to the lunar spacecraft.
- Chandrayaan-1 was launched by India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C11, on October 22, 2008, from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota, India.
- On November 8, 2008, Chandrayaan-1 entered a Lunar Transfer Trajectory.
- On November 14, 2008, the Moon Impact Probe was ejected from Chandrayaan-1 and crashed near the lunar South Pole, confirming the presence of water molecules on the Moon’s surface.
- The spacecraft made more than 3,400 orbits around the Moon. Chandrayaan-1 was operational for 312 days until August 29, 2009.
- There were eleven scientific instruments onboard the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. Five of them were Indian, and the other six were from ESA (3), NASA (2), and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (1), selected through ISRO’s Announcement of Opportunity (AO). Two of the ESA instruments had Indian collaboration.
- Chandrayaan-1 conclusively discovered traces of water on the Moon, making it a groundbreaking discovery. It also discovered water ice in the North polar region of the Moon and detected Magnesium, Aluminium, and Silicon on the lunar surface. Global imaging of the Moon is another achievement of this mission.
Chandrayaan-2 : Advancing India's Lunar Exploration
Chandrayaan-2 is a follow-on mission to the Chandrayaan-1 mission. Chandrayaan-2 comprises an Orbiter, Lander (Vikram), and Rover (Pragyaan) to explore the unexplored South Pole of the Moon.
- Chandrayaan-2 was launched by the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III, GSLV MK-III M1, on July 22, 2019, from the Second Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota, India.
- Unlike Chandrayaan-1, Chandrayaan-2 will attempt a soft landing of its Vikram module on the lunar surface and deploy a six-wheeled Rover, Pragyaan, to carry out several scientific experiments.
- Chandrayaan-2 aims to expand on the scientific objectives of Chandrayaan-1 by achieving a soft landing on the Moon and deploying a rover to study the lunar surface.
- The Orbiter carries eight scientific payloads for mapping the lunar surface and studying the exosphere (outer atmosphere) of the Moon.
- The Lander carries three scientific payloads to conduct surface and subsurface science experiments.
- The Rover carries two payloads to enhance our understanding of the lunar surface. Additionally, a passive experiment from NASA will also be carried onboard Chandrayaan-2.
- After the injection of Chandrayaan-2, a series of maneuvers were carried out to raise its orbit. On August 14, 2019, following the Trans Lunar Insertion (TLI) maneuver, the spacecraft escaped Earth’s orbit and followed a path that took it to the vicinity of the Moon. On August 20, 2019, Chandrayaan-2 was successfully inserted into lunar orbit.
- While orbiting the Moon in a 100 km lunar polar orbit, on September 2, 2019, the Vikram Lander was separated from the Orbiter in preparation for landing. Subsequently, two de-orbit maneuvers were performed on the Vikram Lander to change its orbit and begin circling the Moon in a 100 km x 35 km orbit. The descent of the Vikram Lander proceeded as planned, and normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km. However, communication from the lander to the ground stations was lost.
- Extensive data has been acquired from Chandrayaan-2’s payloads, and parameters are being derived to analyse :
(i) the presence of water-ice in the polar regions,
(ii) X-ray-based and Infrared spectroscopic mineral information,
(iii) the presence of Argon-40 at mid and high latitudes, which is a condensable gas on the Moon released internally by the radioactive decay of 40 K.
Future Prospects: Chandrayaan-3 and Beyond
Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2, aiming to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. It consists of a Lander and Rover configuration.
- Chandrayaan-3 was launched by the LVM3-M4 Vehicle on July 14, 2023, at 2:35 p.m. India Standard Time from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota, India.
- The mission is expected to land on the Moon on August 23 or August 24, 2023. Upon landing, it will operate for one lunar day, which is approximately 14 Earth days. One day on the Moon is equal to 14 days on Earth.
- Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar exploration mission, will make India the fourth country, after the US, China, and Russia, to land its spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. It aims to demonstrate the country’s abilities for a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface.
The mission objectives of Chandrayaan-3 are:
- To demonstrate Safe and Soft Landing on Lunar Surface
- To demonstrate Rover roving on the moon and
- To conduct in-situ scientific experiments.
To achieve the mission objectives, several advanced technologies are present in Lander such as,
- Altimeters: Laser & RF based Altimeters
- Velocimeters: Laser Doppler Velocimeter & Lander Horizontal Velocity Camera
- Inertial Measurement: Laser Gyro based Inertial referencing and Accelerometer package
- Propulsion System: 800N Throttleable Liquid Engines, 58N attitude thrusters & Throttleable Engine Control Electronics
- Navigation, Guidance & Control (NGC): Powered Descent Trajectory design and associate software elements
- Hazard Detection and Avoidance: Lander Hazard Detection & Avoidance Camera and Processing Algorithm
- Landing Leg Mechanism.
To demonstrate the above said advanced technologies in earth condition, several Lander special tests have been planned and carried out successfully viz.
- Integrated Cold Test – For the demonstration of Integrated Sensors & Navigation performance test using helicopter as test platform
- Integrated Hot test – For the demonstration of closed loop performance test with sensors, actuators and NGC using Tower crane as test platform
- Lander Leg mechanism performance test on a lunar simulant test bed simulating different touch down conditions.
- Chandrayaan-3 consists of an indigenous Lander module (LM), Propulsion module (PM) and a Rover with an objective of developing and demonstrating new technologies required for Inter planetary missions.
- The Lander will have the capability to soft land at a specified lunar site and deploy the Rover which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility.
- The Lander and the Rover have scientific payloads to carry out experiments on the lunar surface.
- The main function of Propulsion module (PM) is to carry the Lander module (LM) from launch vehicle injection till final lunar 100 km circular polar orbit and separate the Lander module from Propulsion module.
- Apart from this, the Propulsion Module also has one scientific payload as a value addition which will be operated post separation of Lander Module. The launcher identified for Chandrayaan-3 is LVM3 M4 which will place the integrated module in an Elliptic Parking Orbit (EPO) of size ~170 x 36500 km.
- The propulsion module will carry the lander and rover configuration till 100 km lunar orbit. The propulsion module has Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload to study the spectral and Polari metric measurements of Earth from the lunar orbit.
Major Specifications of Lander
Mission life : 1 Lunar day (14 Earth days)
Mass : 1749.86 kg including Rover
Power : 738 W (Winter solstice)
Payloads : 3
Dimensions (mm3) : 2000 x 2000 x 1166
Communication : ISDN, Ch-2 Orbiter, Rover
Landing site : 69.367621 S, 32.348126 E
Major Specifications of Rover
Mission Life : 1 Lunar day
Mass : 26 kg
Power : 50 W
Payloads : 2
Dimensions (mm3) : 917 x 750 x 397
Communication : Lander
Lander Payloads
RAMBHA-LP Langmuir Probe
To measure the near surface plasma (ions and electrons) density and its changes with time.
ChaSTE - Chandra’s Surface Thermo-physical Experiment
To carry out the measurements of thermal properties of lunar surface near polar region.
ILSA - Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity
To measure seismicity around the landing site and delineating the structure of the lunar crust and mantle.
Rover Payloads
APXS Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer
To derive the chemical composition and infer mineralogical composition to further enhance our understanding of lunar surface.
LIBS Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope
To determine the elemental composition (Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca,Ti, Fe) of lunar soil and rocks around the lunar landing site.
Propulsion Module Payload : SHAPE - Spectro-polarimetry of HAbitable Planet Earth
An experimental payload to study the spectro-polarimetric signatures of the habitable planet Earth (or for presence of life). in the near-infrared (NIR) wavelength range (1‑1.7 μm).
LVM3-M4 Vehicle
LVM3 is the operational heavy lift launch vehicle of ISRO and has a spectacular pedigree of completing 6 consecutive successful missions. This is the 4th operational flight of LVM3, to launch the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft to Geo Transfer Orbit (GTO).
LVM3 has proved its versatility to undertake most complex missions like:
- Injecting multi-satellites
- Mission planning to ensure safe relative distance among separated satellites through re-orientation and velocity addition maneuvers.
- Multi orbit (LEO, MEO, GEO) and execute interplanetary missions.
- India’s largest and heaviest launch vehicle ferrying Indian and international customer satellites.
Characteristics
Payload Mass | 3895 kg |
Height | 43.5 m |
Lift-off Mass | 642 t |
Propulsion Stages | |
Strap-on Motors | 2 x S200 (Solid) |
Core Stage | L110 (Liquid) |
Upper Stage | C25 (Cryo) |
Payload Fairing | 5 m OPLF |
The overall specifications for Chandrayaan-3 is provided below:
Sl. No. | Parameter | Specifications |
1. | Mission Life (Lander & Rover) | One lunar day (~14 Earth days) |
2. | Landing Site (Prime) | 4 km x 2.4 km 69.367621 S, 32.348126 E |
3. | Science Payloads | Lander:
|
4. | Two Module Configuration |
|
5. | Mass |
|
6. | Power generation |
|
7. | Communication |
|
8. | Lander Sensors |
|
9. | Lander Actuators | Reaction wheels – 4 nos (10 Nms & 0.1 Nm) |
10. | Lander Propulsion System | Bi-Propellant Propulsion System (MMH + MON3), 4 nos. of 800 N Throttleable engines & 8 nos. of 58 N; Throttleable Engine Control Electronics |
11. | Lander Mechanisms |
|
12. | Lander Touchdown specifications |
|
Conclusion
India’s Chandrayaan missions have been instrumental in unraveling the mysteries of the Moon, driving scientific advancements, and showcasing the nation’s prowess in space exploration. From Chandrayaan-1’s groundbreaking discoveries to Chandrayaan-2’s perseverance and future prospects with Chandrayaan-3, India’s mission to the Moon is a testament to the country’s commitment to scientific exploration and pushing the boundaries of space research.
For more Information and latest updates about Chandrayaan – 3
Stay connected with us, follow our social media platforms:
Follow us on Facebook for the latest updates and blog posts.
For more details Contact us.