Chandrayaan-3 successfully launched from Satish Dhawan Space Center of Sriharikota
India's third mission of Rs 615 crore or $ 75 million was successfully launched on 14 July 2023. Chandrayaan-3 is India's third Moon Mission and followed by Chandrayaan-2 of July 2019, aimed at sending a rover to the southern pole of the moon.
The mission will be launched by the LVM3-M4 (Fetman) launch vehicle from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota. The mission will have three major modules-propulsion modules, lander modules, and rover.
The landing on the moon of its lander (Vikram) and Rover (Pragyan) is to be held on 23-24 August. The location located at about 70 degrees near the southern pole of the moon was selected because there are many craters
here that live permanently and can contain water, ice, and precious minerals. The current mission does not have an orbiter - it will use the data of the Chandrayaan -2 orbiter.
Objective
There are two payloads on the rover, designed to study the chemical and mineral composition of the lunar surface and determine the composition of elements such as magnesium, aluminum and iron in lunar soil and rocks. A new experiment has been done on the propulsion module, which will remain in the Moon orbit for three to six months.
Global effort
A successful soft landing will make India the fourth country to achieve this feat after the United States (Apollo Mission), Russia (Luna Mission), and China. Israel's 'Beresheet' in 2019 and India's missions crashed and Japan's Hakuto-R Moon Mission and UAE's 'Rashid Rover failed in 2022.
Chang'i 4 of China was the first spacecraft to land on the southern pole of the moon. Launched on 8 December 2018, Chang'i-4 made a soft landing for the first time on the Von Karman Crater in the far southern pole-Atcon basin of the moon on 3 January 2019.
Chandrayaan 2
Chandrayaan-2 of 978 crores was successfully launched on July 22, 2019, from Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, a Geo-Synchronus satellite launch vehicle was successfully launched from GSLV Mark III M1. This was a 3,850 kg mission of India to the Moon. It uses a completely indigenous orbiter, lander (Vikram), and Rover (Pragyan).
Chandrayaan 1
On 22 October 2008, the successful launch of Chandrayaan-1 from PSLV-C11 rocket was made from Satish Dhawan Space Center Shri Harikota. Its budget was Rs 386 crore and the load was 1380 kg. It reached the moon on October 27, 2008, five days later.
Through Chandrayaan-1, water and snow were detected on the surface of the moon with the M3 device, and a 3-D picture was prepared on both sides of the moon. On August 29, 2009, it suddenly lost radio connectivity.
