After the failure of chandrayaan 2 due to some software glitch, who’s primary objective was to demonstrate soft landing of ‘vikram’ lander on the south pole of the moon, ISRO scientist on 14 july 2:35 IST set out another spacecraft called chandrayaan 3 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh with S Mohana Kumar as the mission director.
Chandrayaan 3 is using GSLV Mark 3 (GSLV Mk III) as the launch vehicle that was also used for launching the Chandrayaan 2 in 2019. The launch vehicle is a three stage vehicle with two solid strap-on motors and a high thrust cyrogenic upper stage . As per ISRO, Chandrayaan 3 will have three major objectives.
To ensure soft landing on the south pole region of moon.
Demonstrate rover operations on the moon.
Conduct in-situ/chemical experiments on the lunar surface.
WHY WAS CHANDRAYAAN 2 UNSUCCESFULL?
ISRO chairman S Somnath spoke about the reasons which led to the failure of Chandrayaan 2 prior to the launch of Chandrayaan 3 from Shriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. First one, five engines of the lander generating higher thrust and the second one he stated was that the limitation of the software to detect errors and the small landing site. He also added saying “In a nutshell, we can say our ability to handle parameter dispersion was very limited.”
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHANDRAYAAN 2 AND CHANDRAYAAN 3.
Chandrayaan 2 was India’s first attempt in exploring the lunar surface and gather scientific data but when it was barely 355 meters the lander ‘vikram’ lost contact with the space organisation. Chandrayaan 2 included an orbiter but Chandrayaan 3 did not carry any orbiter.
Chandrayaan 2 consisted of the vikram Lander and Pragyan Rover, whereas Chandrayaan 3 has a different lander configuration- Lander module (LM) , Propulsion module ( PM), and a Rover which weighs just 26 kilograms (57 pounds).
Chandrayaan 2 was made with a budget of 978 crore whereas Chandrayaan 3’s estimated budget is of 615 crore.
HOW IS CHANDRAYAAN 3 BETTER ?
In a press conference just prior to the launch of India’s second lunar mission on july 14 ISRO chairman S Somanath spoke about the rectificatons of the mistakes that occured in Chandrayaan 2. He mentioned that for the launch of this spacecraft they had kept an area of 4.2 km (along the track) x 2.5 km (width) for the landing site. So that it can land anywhere and doesn’t limit to target a specific point.
He also mentioned that this time ISRO have opted for a failure based design instead of a success based design because to focus on the failures that could happen during the landing and how to prevent them. He explained saying “we looked at sensor failure, engine failure, algorithm failure, calculation failure .
There are different failures calculated and programmed inside for safety. We did new test beds for stimulation, which was not there last time. This was to look at various failure situations.” Chairman S Somnath also mentioned that the lander ‘Vikram’ has now solar power panels on its surface so that it generates power no mater in which condition it lands.
CHANDRAYAAN 3 JOURNEY
Chandrayaan 3 will complete its journey from earth to moon in 40 days as per ISRO.
The first, second and third maneuver of Chandrayaan 3 took place at 15, 16 and 18 july respectively. The fourth maneuver took place at 20 july as expected by the scientists of ISRO.
In its latest orbit, the spacecraft was at a distance of 233 kilometers from the Earth at its nearest and 71,351 kilometers at its farthest. The fifth orbit raising maneuver occured on July 25 at approx 3 pm at evening.
On first August , Chandrayaan 3 successfully completed its critical trans-lunar injection (TLI). In simpler words Chandrayaan 3 have been successful in completing its orbits around earth and have now headed on a five day journey towards moon.
The upcoming crucial step in the mission is the LOI ( lunar orbit insertion) scheduled at August 5. During the insertion the spacecraft’s liquid engine will be activated once more to position it into a lunar orbit.
The Chandrayaan 3 is estimated to land in between 23-24 august. People all over India are eagerly for the success of this mission.