All the Chandrayaan missions

All the Chandrayaan Missions

Context: GS Paper III S&T (PT-Mains)

Chandrayaan 1:

• India's 1st mission to moon. It had an orbitor and an impactor.
• Launched in 2008 by PSLV C11.
• Achieved more than 90% of its objectives.

Chandrayaan 2

• Moon has Helium 3 (because no atmosphere and solar winds), Gold, Platinum.
• GSLV MK III was used to send Chandrayaan 2 in a Geosynchronous transfer orbit. It was fully indigenous.
• Aim: To put a rover on unexplored south polar region of moon.
• It is of 3877 kg – Chandrayan II = 3-4 times Chandrayaan I.
• India landed between Manzinus – c and Simpelius N. 70 degree south latitude.
• Women Empowerment: Country's 1st space mission headed by women.
  1. Ritu Karidhal = Mission director.
  2. M. Varitha = Project director.
• 4 components and communications:
• Vikram Lander was tested over Challakere craters. Vikram has a set of sensors for Hazard detection and Avoidance (HDA) system. Lander payloads are the following:
  1. RAMBHA – Proved to be an effective diagnostic tool to gain info in highly dynamic plasma Environment.
  2. ILSA – Seismometer = detect minute ground displacement velocity, acceleration caused by Lunar quakes.
  3. CHASTE – Measures vertical temperature gradient & thermal conductivity of lunar surface.
• Rover Pragyan payload:
  1. APXS: determine elemental composition of moon.
  2. LIBS: Identify and determine abundance of elements.
• Communication to be done from Rover (Pragyan) to Lander(Vikram) to Orbitor to Byalulu (Karnataka). Byalulu is an Indian Deep Space Network in Karnataka

Other associated terminologies

• USA Apollo 11 also landed here. It's landing site = Sea of Tranquility.
• ISITE (ISRO Satellite Integration and Testing Establishment) facility at Bengaluru. ISRO created a proto – lunar terrain test facility at an advanced satellite testing unit ISITE. It needed Lunar soil with almost all its features and texture. Lunar temp, low gravity and same amount of sunlight as moon. To recreate it, we had the option to import simulated lunar soil from US but it was too expensive. We needed 60-70 tonnes. USRSC bought a small amount from US but soon found its own solution at a lower cost.
• Grail is a place at the North pole of Moon = US reached here.
• Chang'e III of China was also in the North (Chang'e IV is in South Pole).
• Many expeditions were mostly at Equator. In South Pole only India and US (now China too).
• Moon's South Pole-Aitken basin (the largest preserved impact crater anywhere in the solar system).

Chandrayaan 3 is an ISRO Lunar mission with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) by 2024.

Current and Past Lunar Missions

• Chang'e 5 - CNSA (China) Lunar Sample Return Mission (2020)
• Chandrayaan 2 - ISRO (India) Lunar Orbiter, Lander and Rover Mission (2019)
• Beresheet - Space IL and Israeli Aerospace Industries (Israel) Lunar Lander (2019)
• LADEE - NASA Lunar Orbiter Dust Environment Mission (2013)
• GRAIL - NASA Lunar Orbiter Mission (2011)
• LCROSS - NASA Lunar Impactor Mission (2009)
• Kaguya (SELENE) - JAXA Lunar Orbiter Mission

Future Lunar Missions

• CAPSTONE - NASA Lunar Navigation and Test Orbiter (2021)
• Peregrine Mission 1 - NASA CLPS Lunar Lander (2021)
• OMOTENASHI - JAXA (Japan) Lunar Lander CubeSat (2021)
• Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter - KARI (South Korea) Lunar Orbiter Mission (2022)

To read more abour China’s Change V mission: click here