Chandrayaan-3 moon mission will demonstrate ”soft lunar landing” capability of ISRO. This mission will also demonstrate månens roving and conduct in-situ scientific experiments. The mission is a steppingstone towards ISRO:s framtida interplanetär uppdrag.
Indiens plats agency ISRO has successfully launched Chandrayaan-3 from SHAR Centre into plats today on 14 July 2023.
After weeks of Earth-bound manoeuvres (EBNs), the lander will be inserted into månens bana which will be followed by several rounds of kretslopp corrections. The lander is expected to soft land on the surface of moon safely on 23 August 2023.
Smakämnen skytteln of the earlier Chandrayaan-2 moon mission is still operational which Chandrayaan-3 mission will use and accomplish the crucial objective of “soft landing” on månens surface that Chandrayaan-2 mission had failed to achieve as its lander Vikram had crash landed on månens surface due to technical snag.
In addition to demonstrating safe and soft landing on månens surface, Chandrayaan-3 moon mission will also demonstrate månens roving and conduct in-situ scientific experiments. These capabilities were to be demonstrated by ISRO’s earlier mission hence this mission is mainly “soft landing” technology demonstration exercise.
However, Chandrayaan-3 moon mission is unique for its prime landing site (69.367621 S, 32.348126 E) is situated in the south polar region. Unlike heritage sites which are situated in the månens equatorial areas, landing site of this mission is in southern high latitudes of moon.
Safe and soft-landing capability is extremely important technology for exploration and future colonization of outer plats towards deep plats human habitation. Having mastered this technology several decades ago through Appollo missions, NASA is now set to embark on its ambitious Artemis Moon Mission designed not only to create long term human presence on and around the Moon but also to learn lessons in preparation for human missions and habitations on mars. Djup plats human habitation, enabling humans to become a multi planet species to thwart the risk of extinction is still a very far dream however beginnings are being made. India’s Moon Mission should be viewed in this context as a steppingstone towards ISRO’s future interplanetär uppdrag.
If the lander of Chandrayaan-3 safely soft lands on månens surface next month, India will become fourth country (after USA, Russia as successor of former USSR and China) to have such crucial plats teknik.
Both China and India started their månens programmes around the same time in 2007-08. Chinese Lunar Programme started in 2007 with successful launch of Chang’e 1 while India’s Chandrayaan programme took off in 2008 with successful Chandrayyan-1. China demonstrated soft landing capability through its Chang’e 3 moon mission in 2013 while India’s second månens exploration mission Chandrayaan-2 was launched in 2019 after a gap of 11 years after Chandrayaan-1. The third Lunar mission Chandrayaan-3 aims to achieve lunar soft-landing capability.
Kinas sista månuppdrag Chang'e 5-uppdrag 2020 visade provåtergångsförmåga. Kina är för närvarande i färd med att lansera ett bemannat månuppdrag.
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