{"id":37110,"date":"2023-09-05T02:05:51","date_gmt":"2023-09-04T20:35:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=37110"},"modified":"2025-04-22T11:04:41","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T05:34:41","slug":"chandrayaan-3-lander","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/chandrayaan-3-lander\/","title":{"rendered":"Chandrayaan-3 Lander: Vikram comes up with a surprise, makes a \u2018jump\u2019 on the Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in Today\u2019s Article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is Hop Test?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Why is the Hop Test Important?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Updates after the Hop Experiment<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Chandrayaan 3 Mission&#8217;s Achievements So Far<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Exceeding its mission objectives, the Chandrayaan-3 mission\u2019s lander Vikram has achieved another significant milestone as it successfully undertook a<strong> hop experiment.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is Hop Test?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that the lander (on command) successfully <strong>fired the engines, elevated itself <\/strong>by about 40 cm as expected and landed safely at a distance of 30-40 cm away.<\/li>\n<li>It demonstrated ISRO\u2019s capability to get the lander to fire its engines and produce the thrust to lift it off the ground.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why is the Hop Test Important?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Though ISRO is yet to announce follow-up missions to the Moon, scientists are of the view that <strong>a sample return mission was the next logical step to Chandrayaan-3<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>In fact, if Chandrayaan-2 had been successful in 2019, Chandrayaan-3 would have been a sample return mission.<\/li>\n<li>The human lander mission would also come at a later point.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Chinese Chang\u2019e lunar programme<\/strong> has also progressed on similar lines. China sent an orbiter (2007), its first lunar mission, and then followed it up with a lander and sample return mission (last one in 2020).<\/li>\n<li>As a result, <strong>the hop test is critical for future lunar missions<\/strong>, as in the case of return missions or human lander missions, the lander must lift off from the lunar surface and return to Earth.\n<ul>\n<li>Of course, the thrust required in those situations would be much higher.<\/li>\n<li>But <strong>as a technology demonstration<\/strong>, the \u2018hop experiment\u2019 would remain one of the highlights of the Chandrayaan-3 mission.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The successful hop experiment also signifies India&#8217;s capabilities in space exploration, potentially <strong>attracting international investments into the country.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Updates after the Hop Experiment:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>ISRO said the <strong>spacecraft and the instruments onboard were all working fine <\/strong>after the \u2018hop\u2019.<\/li>\n<li>Deployed ramp, ChaSTE and ILSA (instruments) <strong>were folded back and redeployed<\/strong> successfully after the experiment.<\/li>\n<li>Shortly thereafter, <strong>the payloads onboard the lander were put to sleep<\/strong> in preparation for the incoming night time.\n<ul>\n<li>The solar-powered instruments were<strong> not designed to survive the extreme low temperatures of lunar night<\/strong>, which drops well below -120 degree Celsius.<\/li>\n<li>Hence, <strong>the instruments onboard the rover were put in sleep mode<\/strong>, a few days earlier than the beginning of the night-time.<\/li>\n<li>The remaining battery would try to keep the instruments warm during the night-time, which too extends for 14 Earth days.<\/li>\n<li>If the battery does not completely drain during this time, the instruments can become active once again when sunshine becomes available.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Soon after the launch of the Aditya-L1 mission, the ISRO Chairman also announced<strong> plans to extend the mission life of both the lander and rover.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The mission life of both the lander and rover was supposed to be only one lunar day, equivalent to 14 days on Earth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure class=\"media\">\n<div data-oembed-url=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fNEFDqdrFaw\">\n<div><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fNEFDqdrFaw\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2>\u00a0<\/h2>\n<h2><strong>Chandrayaan 3 Mission&#8217;s Achievements So Far:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/media\/editor_images\/2023\/9\/5\/13\/1\/9\/64f6d93dc2f5ab05dd7f7d7b_OI.PNG\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Rover Exploration:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Prior to activating the Pragyan rover&#8217;s sleep mode, ISRO reported that it covered a distance of over 100 meters.<\/li>\n<li>Notably, the rover&#8217;s communication range is limited to 500 meters from the Vikram lander.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Historic Sulphur Discovery:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) instrument onboard the rover confirmed the presence of Sulphur (S) in the lunar surface near the south pole.<\/li>\n<li>Additionally, LIBS detected Al, Ca, Fe, Cr, Ti, Mn, Si, and O.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pioneering Plasma Measurements:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The RAMBHA-LP payload onboard Chandrayaan-3 Lander conducted groundbreaking measurements of the near-surface lunar plasma environment over the south polar region.<\/li>\n<li>These quantitative measurements hold promise for <strong>mitigating interference in radio wave communication<\/strong> and enhancing future lunar mission designs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Seismic Activity Recording:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The ILSA payload on Chandrayaan 3 Lander &#8211; the first Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology-based instrument on the moon, recorded the movements of the rover and other payloads.<\/li>\n<li>Additionally, it <strong>captured an event deemed to be of natural origin<\/strong>, which is currently under investigation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Thermal Behaviour Exploration:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The ChaSTE instrument measured the temperature profile of the lunar topsoil around the pole to better understand the thermal characteristics of the moon&#8217;s surface.<\/li>\n<li>This marked the first such profile for the lunar south pole, with ongoing detailed observations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Alternate Sulphur Confirmation:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Another instrument onboard the rover corroborated the presence of Sulphur (S) in the region using a distinct technique.<\/li>\n<li>The APXS detected S alongside other minor elements.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1) What is the Aditya-L1 mission?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Aditya-L1 is a satellite dedicated to the comprehensive study of the Sun. It has 7 distinct payloads, 5 being developed by ISRO and 2 by Indian academic institutes in collaboration with ISRO.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2) What is the name of China&#8217;s lunar programme?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, also known as the Chang&#8217;e Project after the Chinese Moon goddess Chang&#8217;e, is an ongoing series of robotic Moon missions by the China National Space Administration.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/technology\/science\/chandrayaan-3-lander-vikram-hops-on-moons-surface-says-isro-8923440\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Chandrayaan-3 lander Vikram comes up with a surprise, makes a \u2018jump\u2019 on the Moon<\/u><\/a><u> | <\/u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/science\/vikram-lander-makes-soft-landing-on-moon-again-successfully-undergoes-hop-test-isro\/article67269019.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>TH<\/u><\/a><u> <\/u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hindustantimes.com\/india-news\/chandrayaan-3-why-did-isro-soft-land-vikram-lander-again-explained-101693806765784.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>| HT<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Chandrayaan-3 mission\u2019s lander Vikram has achieved another significant milestone as it successfully undertook a hop experiment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":37111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-37110","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}