Chandrayaan3 Mission

Scientific Motivation for Indian Lunar Exploration


• · Airless body à All the wavelengths unhindered (since no thick atmosphere)
• · No Global Magnetic Field à Exposed directly to the solar wind (H+, He++, other ions PLUS electrons)

Domains for Study:

Elemental composition, mineralogy, geology; Exosphere studies; Particle environment

India's Lunar Science Programme: Scientific Rationale

'Ground truth of the surface and near-surface properties at the landing site'

From Chandrayaan-1 to Chandrayaan-2


From Chandrayaan-2 (global) to Chandrayaan-3 (in-situ)

Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter Payloads

Chandrayaan-3 Lander and Rover Payloads



Local in-situ observations, plus looking for any variations of properties in the vicinity of the landing site

Improvements in Chandrayaan-3 Lander


Choice of the Landing Site of Chandrayaan-3


• 4. Communication with Earth
The Journey of Chandrayaan-3

0

July 14, 2023, at 14:35 Hrs. IST from the Second Launch Pad, SDSC-SHAR, Sriharikota

The Journey of Chandrayaan-3 (contd.)


Landing Sequence of Chandrayaan-3



Down Range

23 August, 2023, Wednesday, 18:04 IST

Change-3

Apollo 15

Luna 21

Apollo 17

[Ranger9

Apollo 17

Achieved soft landing on the Moon

India:

The 1 st country to have soft-landed in higher lunar latitude The 4h country to have soft-landed on the Moon

[Luna 7

[Surveyor 1

Apollo 74

Ranger 7

Ranger 8

Luna 6

69.3 S, 32.3 E

[Chandrayaan 3

ShivShakti Point

Surveyor

Luna15

Luna 24

Luna 18

Luna 20

Luna 15

Chandrayaan-3 Mission Update

Original Mission Objectives

• · To soft-land the lunar lander-rover module on the pre-determined landing site at the Southern higher latitudes of the Moon
• · Demonstration of the rover movement on the lunar surface

Extended Mission Accomplishments

• · Demonstration of hopping of the lander by re-firing the engines Sep 3, 2023
• · Return of the propulsion module (PM) to the Earth's orbit

Preliminary steps towards Lunar Sample Return Mission

Ramp Deployed Position Captured on 03-09-2023 after post Hopping

First-Cut Observations from Chandrayaan-3

• 1. First-ever detection of S on the lunar regolith, along with trace constituents like C, N P Ti, Mn, Cr, Ni; quantification in progress
• 2. First-ever temperature profiling of the lunar regolith up to ~ 10 cm depth, results show good thermal insulating properties of the lunar soil
• 3. A few events of ground vibrations of the lunar surface are recorded
• 4. First-ever characterization of the near-surface lunar plasma at higher lunar latitude; indicate that only a few tens to hundreds of electrons per cc; dependence on local time


Thank You for Kind Attention