Lander Vikram and rover Pragyan to return for another tryst with the moon

Lander Vikram and rover Pragyan to return for another tryst with the moon

Subject: Science and technology

Section: Space technology

Context:

• Chandrayaan-3 is slated for a mid-July launch.

Details:

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to retain the names of the Chandrayaan-2 lander and rover for their Chandrayaan-3 equivalents as well i.e. the Chandrayaan-3 lander will bear the name ‘Vikram’ and the rover, ‘Pragyan’.
• It will be launched by LVM3 (formerly GSLV Mk-III) rocket from Sriharikota.
• A propulsion module will carry the lander-rover configuration to a 100-km lunar orbit.
• Once the ‘Vikram’ lander module makes it safely to the moon, it will deploy ‘Pragyan’ ‘which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility.

The Chandrayaan-3 Mission:

• Chandrayaan-3 (“mooncraft”) is a planned 3rd lunar exploration mission by the ISRO to demonstrate end-to-end capability in –
• Safe landing (through the lander Vikram – after Vikram Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space programme) and
• Roving (through the rover Pragyan) 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.
• ISRO plans to launch the third moon mission in mid-July aboard the LVM3 (formerly GSLV Mk-III) rocket from Sriharikota.

Scientific experiments:

• The lander, rover and propulsion module will have payloads for performing experiments designed to give scientists new insights into the characteristics of Earth’s lone natural satellite.
• The lander will have four payloads:

1. Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive Ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA),
2. Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE),
3. Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) and
4. The LASER Retroreflector Array (LRA).

• The six-wheeled rover will have two payloads:

1. The Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and
2. The LASER-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS).

• In addition to these, there will be one payload on the propulsion module, the Spectro-polarimetry of HAbitable Planet Earth (SHAPE).

How will the Mission be Implemented?

• A propulsion module will carry the lander-rover configuration to a 100-km lunar orbit.
• Once the ‘Vikram’ lander module makes it safely to the moon, it will deploy ‘Pragyan’.
• Pragyan will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility.