CHANDRAYAAN 3

CHANDRAYAAN 3

Subject : Science & tech

Context : K Sivan, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), revealed the estimated cost for Chandrayaan-3 to be Rs 6.15 billion (about $91.2 million), a much lower figure in comparison with Chandrayaan-2, which cost Rs 9.7 billion, as per news reports.

Concept:

Chandrayaan-3

• Chandrayaan-3 s a planned third lunar exploration mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
• Following Chandrayaan-2, where a snag in communication 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 will be a mission repeat of Chandrayaan-2 but will only include a lander and rover similar to that of Chandrayaan-2. It will not have an orbiter.

Chandrayaan-2 mission:

• In September 2008, the Chandrayaan-2 mission was approved by the government for a cost of Rs 425 crore.
• It is India’s second mission to the moon.
• It aims to explore the Moon’s south polar region.
• The mission is an important step in India’s plans for planetary exploration, a program known as Planetary Science and Exploration (PLANEX).
• There are three components of the mission, an orbiter, a lander and a rover.
• The mission payloads include — Terrain Mapping Camera which will generate a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the entire moon, Chandrayaan 2 Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer which will test the elemental composition of the Moon’s surface Solar X-Ray Monitor which will provide solar X-ray spectrum inputs for CLASS.
• The orbiter will be deployed at an altitude of 100 kilometers above the surface of the Moon. The lander will then separate from the orbiter, and execute a soft landing on the surface of the Moon, unlike the previous mission which crash landed near the lunar south pole.
• The lander, rover and orbiter will perform mineralogical and elemental studies of the lunar surface.
• The rover is named Pragyan.
• The mission’s lander is named Vikram after DrVikram A Sarabhai, the Father of the Indian Space Programme.

GSLV Mk-III:

• Developed by ISRO, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III is a three-stage vehicle.
• Primarily designed to launch communication satellites into geostationary orbit.
• It has a mass of 640 tonnes that can accommodate up to 8,000 kg payload to LEO and 4000 kg payload to GTO.
• GSLV Mk-III vehicle is powered by two solid motor strap-ons (S200), a liquid propellant core stage (L110) and a cryogenic stage (C25), that has been designed for carrying the four-tonne class satellites.
• The C25 is powered by CE-20, India’s largest cryogenic engine, designed and developed by the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre.

Why the south polar region of the moon?

• According to ISRO, the lunar south pole is an interesting surface area, which remains in shadow as compared to the north pole.
• There is a possibility of the presence of water in permanently shadowed areas around it, the agency said, adding craters in the south pole region have cold traps and contain fossil records of the early solar system.