With Russia’s Luna 25 spacecraft crash landing on the moon, all eyes are on India’s Chandrayaan 3 mission, which is expected to soft land on the lunar surface around 6:04 pm on Wednesday, August 23. If all goes well and Chandrayaan 3 makes a successful landing near the south pole of the lunar surface, then India would script history for becoming the first nation to land on this particular region of the moon. This will also be a testimony of the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) technical prowess and space ambitions.
TNM had earlier explained why landing near the south pole of the moon is important for the mission. As much as this particular region holds significant importance for scientific study, the terrain of the moon’s surface and the extremely cold temperatures near the south pole, make it a tough challenge for landing.
But what will happen once the Vikram lander makes a successful soft landing on the lunar surface?
Upon landing, one side panel of the Vikram lander will unfold and a ramp will be formed for the six-wheeled Pragyan rover to slide down and begin moving on the surface of the moon. The movement of the rover will be within the lander’s observational radius so that the cameras fitted on the lander will be able to see the rover’s movement at all times.
The spacecraft will also be carrying instruments with them called payloads, which will be used for observing and recording what’s happening on the moon. This information will be passed on to the scientists back on earth for their study purposes. There are a total of six payloads on the spacecraft. There will be four scientific payloads on the lander, which will be used to study the thermal properties of the moon, changes in plasma near the surface, lunar quakes and so on. There will be two payloads on the rover, which will be used for collecting information about the chemical and mineral composition of the lunar surface.
According to ISRO, the lander and rover have two weeks to complete their research on the lunar service.
On August 21, ISRO chairman S Somnath said that all systems on India’s ambitious spacecraft are working well and no contingencies were expected on Wednesday.