New Delhi : Moon is the satellite of the earth. The people of the earth are excited to know about their satellite moon, just as a person wants to know about his neighbor’s house. India has been making continuous efforts for 20 years to collect information about the lunar surface. For this, the Chandrayaan Abhiyan was started on 15 August 2003 during the reign of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The scientific community is eagerly waiting for the success of the third lunar mission ‘Chandrayaan-3’ of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). If ISRO successfully lands Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar surface, then India will master the ‘soft landing’ on its satellite Moon. How did the lunar mission develop in India in these 20 years? Let’s know the sequence of events…
Chandrayaan-1
The Chandrayaan program was conceived by the Government of India, which was formally announced on 15 August 2003 by the then Prime Minister, the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The hard work of the scientists paid off when on October 22, 2008, the first mission ‘Chandrayaan-1’ was launched by ISRO’s reliable PSLV-C11 rocket.
According to ISRO, PSLV-C11 was an updated version of the standard configuration of PSLV. The vehicle, which weighed 320 tonnes at launch, used larger ‘strap-on motors’ to achieve higher equipment carrying capacity. It had 11 scientific instruments made in India, America, Britain, Germany, Sweden and Bulgaria.
Renowned scientist Mayilsamy Annadurai, who belongs to Tamil Nadu, led the project as the director of ‘Chandrayaan-1’ mission.
The spacecraft was orbiting around the Moon at an altitude of 100 km from the lunar surface for chemical, mineralogical and photo-geological mapping of the Moon.
When the mission achieved all the desired objectives, the orbit of the spacecraft was raised to 200 km in May 2009, a few months after launch.
The satellite made more than 3,400 revolutions around the Moon, which was more than the ISRO team had expected. The mission eventually ended and scientists at the space agency announced that communication with the spacecraft had been lost on August 29, 2009.
PSLV-C11 was designed and developed by Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram.
Chandrayaan-2
Encouraged by the success of Chandrayaan-1, ISRO conceived ‘Chandrayaan-2’ as a complex mission.
‘Chandrayaan-2’ carried an ‘orbiter’, ‘lander’ (Vikram) and ‘rover’ (Pragyan) for exploration on the south pole of the Moon.
The Chandrayaan-2 mission was successfully placed in the lunar orbit on August 20 of the same year after flying on July 22, 2019.
Every move of the spacecraft was precise and the ‘lander’ successfully separated from the ‘orbiter’ in preparation for landing on the lunar surface.
After circling the Moon at an altitude of 100 km, the descent of the ‘lander’ towards the lunar surface was as planned and was normal up to an altitude of 2.1 km.
The mission ended suddenly when the scientists lost contact with ‘Vikram’.
‘Vikram’ was named after the late Vikram Sarabhai, the father of India’s space programme.
The ‘Chandrayaan-2’ mission failed to make the desired ‘soft landing’ on the Moon’s surface, much to the dismay of the ISRO team.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was present at the ISRO headquarters to witness the scientific achievement at that time, was seen consoling the then ISRO chief K Sivan, who had turned emotional.
The objective of the ‘Chandrayaan-2’ mission was to expand lunar scientific knowledge through detailed studies of topography, seismographs, mineralogical identification, chemical composition of the surface and thermo-physical characteristics of the upper soil, to provide new insights into the origin and evolution of the Moon. May understanding arise.
chandrayaan-3 mission
The third mission to take off on Friday is a follow-up mission to the predecessor ‘Chandrayaan-2’, which aims to master the ‘soft landing’ on the lunar surface.
With a successful ‘soft landing’ on the lunar surface, India will join the club of countries like the US, China and the former Soviet Union that have achieved such a feat.
LVM3M4-Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on Friday-July 14 at 14.35 hrs (2:35 PM).
Under the ‘Chandrayaan-3’ programme, ISRO is going to cross new frontiers by demonstrating ‘soft-landing’ on the lunar surface and rotation of the rover on the lunar terrain with the help of its lunar module.
The LVM3M4 rocket will take ISRO’s ambitious ‘Chandrayaan-3’ to the Moon on Friday.
This rocket was earlier called GSLVMK3.
Space scientists also call it ‘Fat Boy’ because of its ability to carry heavy equipment.
A ‘soft landing’ of ‘Chandrayaan-3’ has been planned at the end of August 2023.
It is expected that this mission will be helpful for future interplanetary missions.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission, comprising an indigenous propulsion module, lander module and a rover, aims to develop and demonstrate new technologies required for inter-planetary missions.
Friday’s mission is the fourth operational flight of LVM3, aimed at launching ‘Chandrayaan-3’ into geosynchronous orbit.
The LVM3 rocket has proved its mettle in launching multiple satellites, carrying out most complex missions including interplanetary missions. It is also the largest and heaviest launch vehicle carrying domestic and international customer satellites.
Through the third lunar mission, ISRO scientists aim to demonstrate various capabilities, including reaching the lunar orbit, performing a ‘soft-landing’ on the lunar surface using the lander, and using the lander to study the lunar surface. It involves the launch of a rover and then its rotation on the lunar surface.
To see the entire preparation and process for the launch of Chandrayaan-3 on Tuesday, July 13, 2023, a ‘launch exercise’ was done at Sriharikota, which lasted for more than 24 hours.
On July 12, scientists completed the review related to mission preparation.
The countdown began on 13 July.
On July 14, Chandrayaan-3 was launched into the Moon’s orbit from Sriharikota by ISRO.
Important information related to Chandrayaan
Book released on Chandrayaan-3 launchpad
National Award winning filmmaker and author Vinod Mankara’s new book was released from the rocket launchpad at Satish Dhawan Space Center (SDSC) Sriharikota. A unique launch event of a collection of science articles ‘Prism: The Ancestral Abode of Rainbow’ was held on Thursday evening at SDSC-SHAAR, where preparations are underway for the lunar mission Chandrayaan-3. ISRO Chairman S Somnath released the book by handing it over to Vikram Sarabhai Space Center (VSSC) Director S Unnikrishnan Nair.
Chandrayaan 3: India is on the way to become the fourth space superpower, history will change as soon as Chandrayaan is successful! learn how
Chandrayaan’s special relationship with Tamil Nadu
The Chandrayaan Abhiyan started by India has a special relationship with Tamil Nadu. A unique similarity about the Chandrayaan series that started with the first lunar mission in the year 2008 is its connection to Tamil Nadu. After Tamil Nadu-born Mayilsamy Annadurai and M Vanitha led Chandrayaan-1 and Chandrayaan-2, Villupuram native P Veeramuthuvel is now overseeing the third mission. Veeramuthuvel, 46, is currently the project director of the Chandrayaan-3 mission under the leadership of Somnath. ISRO, headed by S Somnath, aims to join the elite list of nations that have mastered ‘soft landing’ on the lunar surface. Interestingly, former President late Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, who led India’s rocket program, was also from Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu.
CTTC Bhubaneswar, which contributed to Chandrayaan-3, awaits ‘soft landing’
After the launch of India’s lunar mission Chandrayaan-3 on Friday, technicians and students at the ‘Central Tool Room and Training Centre’ (CTTC) in Bhubaneswar look forward to watching the vehicle make a ‘soft landing’ on the lunar surface. CTTC Bhubaneswar has supplied vital components for this mission. The general manager of the institute, L Rajasekhar, said that we are distraught and feel like students waiting for the results. We are highly optimistic that this time India will create history. The Bhubaneswar-based PSU has manufactured various flow control valves used in the LVM3 (Launch Vehicle Mark-III), sensors and regulators of the Chandrayaan-3 launch vehicle. The institute has also supplied gyroscope and launcher components for the vehicle. After the partial failure of ‘soft landing’ on the lunar surface during Chandrayaan-2 in 2019, ISRO has made some changes in the design of the vehicle lander. More than 150 technicians have worked day and night in the last two years to manufacture more than 50,000 critical components used in the lunar mission.
Major Contribution of Godrej Aerospace
Godrej Aerospace also has an important contribution in Chandrayaan-3. The two engines for the second stage of the rocket carrying Chandrayaan-3 have been made by Godrej Aerospace. Godrej Aerospace’s Associate Vice President and Business Head Maneck Bahramkamdin told that Chandrayaan-3 is a very prestigious mission, Godrej has contributed hardware for two engines, which are the second stage engines.
