Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2, developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. The mission objectives of Chandrayaan-3 are:
- To demonstrate safe and soft landing on the lunar surface.
- To demonstrate rover roving on the moon.
Chandrayaan-3 consists of a lander and rover configuration, and it will be launched by LVM3 from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota. The propulsion module will carry the lander and rover configuration till 100 km lunar orbit. The lander payloads include Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) to measure the thermal conductivity and temperature, Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) for measuring the seismicity around the landing site, and Langmuir Probe (LP) to estimate the plasma density and its variations. A passive Laser Retroreflector Array from NASA is also included for lunar laser ranging studies. The rover weighs 26 kg and is designed to deploy from the lander.
Chandrayaan-3 was launched on July 14, 2023, and it touched down in the Moons south polar region on August 23, 2023. The spacecrafts expected lifetime is one lunar day, or about two Earth weeks. The mission is aimed at the lunar south pole, a region with water ice that could be a source of oxygen, fuel, and water for future moon missions or a more permanent moon colony. If it lands successfully, the Chandrayaan-3 is expected to run a series of experiments including a spectrometer analysis of the mineral composition of the lunar surface.
