It will help collect data about the chemical and mineralogical composition of the lunar surface
On July 14, 2023, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched Chandrayaan-3 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
“Chandrayaan-3, in its precise orbit, has begun its journey to the Moon. The health of the spacecraft is normal,” ISRO wrote on Twitter. On July 17, 2023, ISRO provided an update saying that the spacecraft’s health is normal and the first orbit-raising manoeuvre (Earthbound firing-1) has been performed successfully.
Chandrayaan 3 is expected to land on the far side of the moon in the fourth week of August. Chandrayan is the latest on India’s exploration of the moon.
While Chandrayan-1 created history by confirming the presence of water on the moon, Chandrayan-2, ended up losing communication with the team after 45 days of launching.
So, what is the purpose of Chandrayaan-3? The mission consists of a propulsion module, a lander module and a rover. The propulsion module will carry the lander and rover from the injection orbit to the lunar orbit.
ISRO also aims to demonstrate the ability of the rover to move on the Moon and conduct experiments including studying the seismicity and thermal properties of the lunar surface.
The rover is armed with two instruments: LASER Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) and Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS).
The former will provide data on the chemical and mineralogical composition of the lunar surface to help experts learn more about the lunar surface. The latter will look for elements on the lunar soil and rocks around the landing site.
It also carries an instrument called Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planetary Earth (SHAPE) to enable discoveries of smaller planets. The reflected light from the smaller planets can help scientists probe into a variety of potentially habitable exoplanets.
The far side of the moon was first captured by the Soviet Spacecraft Luna 3 in 1959. And since then only China’s Chang’e-4 probe has managed to land here. If everything goes according to plan, Chandrayan-3 will be the second to achieve this remarkable feat.
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