Chandrayaan-3 Landing Highlights: Vikram Lander To Study Lunar Quakes, Pragyan Rover's Experiments To Help Future Crewed Missions
Chandrayaan-3 Moon Landing Live: Chandrayaan-3’s Pragyan rover successfully rolled out of the Vikram lander over four hours after the historic touchdown on the lunar south pole.
Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander will study lunar quakes, and measure the thermal properties of the lunar surface. The experiments performed by the Pragyan rover will help future space exploration missions, according to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted Thursday that the success of Chandrayaan-3 is a success of the entire humanity. In that tweet, he thanked the president of the United Arab Emirates, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, for his wishes on the success of Chandrayaan-3.
After Chandrayaan-3's Pragyan rover started its roving operations on the Moon, ISRO wrote on X that the rover said to Mission Operations Complex (MOX): "Moon Walk Begins!"
ISRO Chief S Somanath said Thursday that some of the challenges faced by Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon were a communication blackout problem and a thermal issue.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has shared a video of how the Moon looked like before Chandrayaa-3 made a historic soft landing on the Moon's south pole. Watch the video here:
ISRO has said that Chandrayaan-3's activities are on schedule, and all systems are normal. The Indian space agency also said that most of the payloads on the Vikram lander were turned on Thursday, a day after Chandrayaan-3's historic landing. The rover operations have also commenced.
Know more here: All Systems Are Normal, Lander's Payloads Switched On, Rover Operations Started
Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said Thursday that Chandrayaan-3 has only the contribution of scientists, and that he salutes them for making India’s name rise.
Former ISRO Chairman K Sivan said Thursday that with the successful soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar south pole, his dream of going to the Moon and landing near the lunar south pole came true.
Former ISRO Chief K Sivan said Thursday that Chandrayaan-3 was configured in 2019 itself, and the corrections to be made to Chandrayaan-2 were decided in the same year. He said that the fruit of that effort was seen in the form of Chandrayaan-3's successful soft landing on the Moon's south pole.
Sivan said that Chandrayaan-2 could not land because of a small error, otherwise, India could have achieved the landing four years back.
ISRO Chief S Somanath said Thursday that the Indian space agency will perform a robotic path planning exercise on the Moon which will help India prepare for future exploration missions. He explained that the Pragyan rover has two instruments whose functions are to explore the elemental and chemical compositions of lunar rocks and soil.
The Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO's) Chairman S Somanath said Thursday that the Aditya-L1, India's first space-based solar mission, is "getting ready" for launch in September.
S Somanath, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), said Thursday that the Gaganyaan programme, India's first human spaceflight programme, is in progress, and that India's first manned mission will possibly take place by 2025. He also said that ISRO is likely to conduct the first leg of the Gaganyaan programme by the end of September or early October to demonstrate the functioning of the crew module, and escape capability of the crew. After this, several test missions will be performed, and ultimately, the third leg of the Gaganyaan programme can be conducted.
The ISRO Chief also spoke about the Aditya-L1 mission, and said that it is a mission to the Sun, and is getting ready for launch in September.
S Somanath, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), explained on Thursday the reasons why the Indian space agency chose the lunar south pole as the landing site of Chandrayaan-3. He said that the Moon's south pole has a specific advantage because it is less illuminated by the Sun, and there is a potential to have more scientific content in that region. He also said that scientists worldwide have shown tremendous interest in the lunar south pole because ultimately, spacefaring is the goal of one and all.
Background
Chandrayaan-3 Moon Landing Live: Chandrayaan-3 successfully soft-landed on the lunar south pole on August 23, 2023, at 6:04 pm IST, making India the first country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon’s south pole. Over four hours after the historic touchdown, Chandrayaan-3’s Pragyan rover successfully rolled out of the Vikram lander. While the lander will remain fixed in its position, the rover will explore the lunar surface. Both the lander and the rover will perform experiments on the Moon for 14 days.
Chandrayaan-3 has shared images of the Moon captured during lunar descent, and also an image of the landing site. The landing site’s image was captured by Vikram lander's Landing Imager Camera. Chandrayaan-3 is able to share images with Earth because of an enhanced communication network facilitated by Chandrayaan-2’s orbiter, Chandrayaan-3’s propulsion module, and the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO’s) Deep Space Antenna.
ISRO has said that Chandrayaan-3 chose a relatively flat region on the lunar surface for landing.
The lunar south pole is a treasure trove of scientific secrets and cosmic mysteries, which is why ISRO chose this as the landing site.
After the automatic landing sequence was initiated, powered descent began. The ‘15 minutes of terror’ before lunar touchdown went smoothly for Chandrayaan-3.
Chandrayaan-3 will study the lunar ice reserves, measure seismic activities, and analyse the elemental and mineralogical composition of lunar soil and rocks. The payloads will also study the structure of the lunar crust and mantle, and the plasma environment.
The lunar mysteries unravelled by Chandrayaan-3 can help humans prepare for future crewed missions to the Moon and beyond. Studying the lunar ice reserves will allow scientists to determine how these could be used to extract water, oxygen and fuel in the future.
Chandrayaan-3 will operate on the Moon for 14 days, and will remain there even after its mission life is over.
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