Indian spacecraft Chandrayaan-3 enters lunar orbit, set for south pole landing
Chandrayaan-3 enters lunar orbit, shares first images of south pole
Saturday saw India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft enter lunar orbit, delivering the first images of the Moon’s surface. The pictures spotlight the ever-growing lunar surface craters as the spacecraft gradually descended closer. Slated for a lunar arrival on 23 August, the Chandrayaan-3, carrying an orbiter, a lander and a rover, aims to make India the pioneer nation to touch down near the Moon’s south pole.
When successful, India will join the trio of countries, the US, the former Soviet Union and China, having achieved the feat of a gentle touchdown on the lunar surface. Following an approximate ten-day orbit around Earth, the craft proceeded towards the translunar orbit last Tuesday, and was injected into the lunar orbit on Saturday.
The Indian Space Research Agency (ISRO) has maintained surveillance over Chandrayaan-3’s “health,” leading the agency to declare that it is operating “normally.” Furthermore, the ISRO emphasised on the successful third consecutive injection of a spacecraft into the lunar orbit.
Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
The spacecraft successfully underwent a planned orbit reduction maneuver. The retrofiring of engines brought it closer to the Moon's surface, now to 170 km x 4313 km.
The next operation to further reduce the orbit is scheduled for August 9, 2023, between… pic.twitter.com/e17kql5p4c
— ISRO (@isro) August 6, 2023
Chandrayaan-3 marks the third mission of India in lunar exploration. The probe is projected to enhance the success of prior Moon missions. The first of these took place in 2008, having established the presence of water molecules on the Mars-like lunar surface and deduced an atmosphere present during daylight.
Mirroring its predecessor, Chandrayaan-3 incorporates an orbiter, a lander and a rover within its structure. The second mission, whilst still operational in lunar study today, only partially succeeded as the lander-rover suffered a crash during touchdown in July 2019.
The ISRO chief, Sreedhara Panicker Somanath, notified that the investigation of data from the crash site and subsequent simulation exercises are used to correct flaws of Chandrayaan-3. Weighing 3,900kg, Chandrayaan-3 costs US$75 million (around 6.1 billion rupees; £58 million). Vikram, the 1,500kg lander named in honour of ISRO’s founder, safeguards the 26kg rover ‘Pragyaan’, symbolising wisdom in Sanskrit, within itself.
Indian scientists are now preparing to slowly diminish the rocket’s speed to secure a suitable location for Vikram’s soft landing to occur. “A calculated sequence of manoeuvres has been planned to gradually reduce the spacecraft’s orbit and position it over the lunar poles. Post some manoeuvres, a propulsion module will detach from the lander while in orbit. This will be followed by a series of intricate braking manoeuvres to facilitate a soft landing in the South Pole region of the Moon on 23 August,” the ISRO elaborates.
Upon reaching its destination, Pragyaan, the six-wheeled rover, will examine the Moon’s surface, studying the rocks and the craters present. The data and images collected will then be sent back to Earth for further analysis.
Somanath shares, “The rover hosts five instruments oriented towards unravelling the Moon surface’s physical characteristics, the surface-near atmosphere and tectonic activity. We hope to discover something new.”
The largely unchartered south pole of the Moon is a main attraction. This area has significantly more shaded surface areas than the north pole. This implies the prospect of water in constantly-shadowed expanses.
India’s focal interest in the Moon is shared by a host of other global nations. Despite significant exploration already carried out, there remains much to learn about the Moon that often serves as a gateway to deep space.
