Jakarta, Beritasatu.com – The Indian Space Research Organization or ISRO has launched the Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon carrying the giant lander Vikram, and the small rover Pragyan which is currently exploring the Earth’s natural satellite.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on July 14, 2023 from the southern Indian regional space launch center Andhra Pradesh, with the help of the Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3) rocket. On August 23, 2023, the Indian spacecraft successfully made a smooth landing on the south pole of the Moon.
This mission aims to explore the south pole of the Moon which has never been explored, especially since the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 occurred after Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft failed to land. Following are the facts about the Chandrayaan-3 mission.
Chandrayaan-3 Misi Lanjutan dari Chandrayaan-2
Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-up mission to Chandrayaan-2 which failed to land and explore the Moon, because the software experienced problems in the last minutes before landing.
Then, India launched the Chandrayaan-3 mission carrying the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover. Vikram is taken from the name of the founder of ISRO and Pragyan comes from Sanskrit which means wisdom.
The Vikram lander has a payload chandra surface thermophysical experiment (ChaSTE) to measure thermal conductivity and temperature, instrument for lunar seismic activity (ILSA) to measure earthquakes around the landing site, langmuir probe (LP) to estimate plasma density and its variations, and array retroreflector laser pasif from NASA for lunar laser range studies.
Meanwhile, Pragyan’s rover is loaded with cargo alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS), laser induced breakdown spectroscope (LIBS) to obtain the elemental composition around the landing site, and scientific instruments spectropolarimetry of habitable planet earth (SHAPE) to study the Earth from lunar orbit.
Vikram is about 2 meters tall and weighs more than 1,700 kilograms or the equivalent of a car sport utility vehicle (SUVs). The Indian spacecraft is designed to deploy a smaller rover, the 26-kilogram Pragyan.
Chandrayaan-3 Mission Is Underway
After arriving at the south pole of the Moon, the Chandrayaan-3 mission studied various potentials on the Moon, such as oxygen sources, fuel availability and water content. For two weeks, Vikram carried out a series of scientific experiments including measuring the temperature of the upper layer of the Moon’s regolith.
Meanwhile, Pragyan explored the landing site and sent images back to Earth. The results of this research will be very useful for the sustainability of scientific research in the future.
Short Mission on the Moon
The Chandrayaan-3 mission is set to last 14 Earth days or the equivalent of 1 lunar day. This is because Vikram and Pragyan were not designed to survive the extreme temperatures at the Moon’s south pole, which reach minus 230 degrees Celsius. However, it does not rule out the possibility that Vikram and Pragyan could survive more than 14 days on the Moon.
Landers and Explorers are Sleeping
After spending two weeks collecting data and images, Vikram and rover Pragyan were put into sleep mode as night fell. Pragyan was euthanized on September 2 and Vikram followed suit two days later.
However, the latest information states that ISRO is still making efforts to establish contact with Vikram and Pragyan to ensure their condition is active, but has not received any signal so far. After this mission is completed, the Chandrayaan-3 mission will remain on the Moon and not return to Earth.
2023-09-29 06:36:06
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