With the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s lander “Vikram” and lunar rover “Pragyan” scheduled to touch down on the lunar surface on Wednesday, the duo’s mission is complete, here’s what they’ll do after reaching Earth’s only natural satellite do things.
The lander will be able to touch down at a designated lunar site and deploy the rover, which will conduct in situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface as it travels.
Landers and rovers have science payloads to conduct experiments on the lunar surface. The main function of the propulsion module (PM) is to inject the landing module (LM) from the launch vehicle into the eventual lunar 100 km circular polar orbit and to separate the LM from the PM, which it does.
In addition to this, the PM has a science payload — the Spectropolarimetry of a Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload, which investigates spectroscopic and polarimetric measurements of Earth from lunar orbit — as an added value.
Below are the key specifications of the lander and rover.
• The mission life of the lander is 1 lunar day, equivalent to 14 Earth days.
• Including Rover, its mass is 1749.86 kg
• There are four scientific payloads
• The Lunar Ultra-Sensitive Ionosphere and Atmospheric Radio Anatomy (RAMBHA) will measure near-surface plasma (ions and electrons) density and its evolution over time.
• Chandra’s Surface Thermophysics Experiment (ChaSTE) will measure the thermal properties of the lunar surface near the polar regions.
• The Lunar Seismology Instrument (ILSA) will measure seismicity around the landing site and characterize the structure of the Moon’s crust and mantle.
• NASA’s Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) is a passive experiment to understand the dynamics of the lunar system.
• The LRA will be equipped with seven sensors, including lander hazard detection and avoidance cameras.
• The lander has six mechanisms, namely landing legs, rover ramps (primary and secondary), rover, ILSA, Rambha and Chaste payloads, umbilical connector protection mechanism and X-band antenna rover:
• Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) booster module for qualitative and quantitative elemental analysis
• LIBS will help derive chemical composition and infer mineral composition to further understand the lunar surface.
• The Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) will determine the elemental composition (such as magnesium, aluminum, silicon, potassium, calcium, titanium and iron) of lunar soil and rocks around the lunar landing site.
(This story was not edited by NDTV staff and was automatically generated from syndicated feeds.)
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