Chandrayaan-3: Lander successfully completes crucial test

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in News?
• What Exactly is the Chandrayaan-3 Mission?
• News Summary Regarding Successful Testing of Chandrayaan-3 Lander

Why in News?

• According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the lander for the Chandrayaan-3 mission successfully completed the crucial EMI-EMC (Electro – Magnetic Interference/ Electro – Magnetic Compatibility) test at the U.R. Rao Satellite Centre, Bengaluru.

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What Exactly is the Chandrayaan-3 Mission?

Image Caption: Chandrayaan 2 vs Chandrayaan 1

• Following Chandrayaan-2, where a last-minute glitch led to the failure of the lander’s soft-landing attempt after a successful orbital insertion, another lunar mission for demonstrating soft landing was proposed.
• Chandrayaan-3 (“mooncraft”) is a planned 3rd lunar exploration mission by the ISRO to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.
• Unlike Chandrayaan-2, it will not have an orbiter and its propulsion module will behave like a communications relay satellite.
• Chandrayaan-3 interplanetary mission has three major modules: the Propulsion module, Lander module, and Rover.
• The propulsion module: It has Spectro-polarimetry of HAbitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload to study the spectral and polarimetric measurements of Earth from lunar orbit.
• Lander payloads:
  • Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) to measure the thermal conductivity and temperature;
  • Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) for measuring the seismicity around the landing site;
  • Langmuir Probe (LP) to estimate the plasma density and its variations, etc.
• Rover payloads: Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) for deriving the elemental composition in the vicinity of the landing site.

News Summary Regarding Successful Testing of Chandrayaan-3 Lander

• The Chandrayaan-3 mission is slated to be launched later this year by the GSLV MkIII (Launch Vehicle Mark 3 – LMV3) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.
• According to the space agency, the EMI-EMC test is conducted for satellite missions to ensure the functionality of the satellite subsystems in the space environment and their compatibility with the expected electromagnetic levels.
• This test is a major milestone in the realisation of the satellites, as the mission’s complexity calls for establishing radio-frequency (RF) communication links between the modules.

Q1) How is the Chandrayaan-3 different from the Chandrayaan-2 mission?

Chandrayaan-3 (“mooncraft”) is a planned 3rd lunar exploration mission by the ISRO to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. Unlike Chandrayaan-2, it will not have an orbiter and its propulsion module will behave like a communications relay satellite.

Q2) When is the Chandrayaan-3 mission scheduled to be launched?

The Chandrayaan-3 mission is slated to be launched later this year by the GSLV MkIII (Launch Vehicle Mark 3 – LMV3) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.

Source: Chandrayaan-3 successfully completes crucial test | ISRO.gov.in

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbG_0GDvOFU