Chandrayaan-1 was the first Indian lunar probe under the chandrayaan-1 program. It was launched by the Indian Space Research Organization on October 22, 2008, and operated until August 2009. The spacecraft was orbiting around the Moon at a height of 100 km from the lunar surface for chemical, mineralogical and photo-geologic mapping of the Moon. The spacecraft carried 11 scientific instruments built in India, USA, UK, Germany, Sweden and Bulgaria. After the successful completion of all the major mission objectives, the orbit has been raised to 200 km during May 2009. The satellite made more than 3400 orbits around the moon and the mission was concluded when the communication with the spacecraft was lost on August 29, 2009. Mission Remote Sensing, Planetary ScienceWeight1380 kg (Mass at lift off)Onboard power700 WattsStabilization3 - axis stabilized using reaction wheel and attitude control thrusters, sun sensors, star sensors, fiber optic gyros and accelerometers for attitude determination.
The Chandrayaan-1 gave a major flip to the Indian space program, as it was the country's indigenous developed technology to explore the Moon.
Indian Space Research Organization monumental effort notwithstanding, the vi ram lander of the Chandrayaan-2 failed to make a smooth soft-landing on the lunar surface in the early hours of Saturday, unable to bring down its speed to the required level. Contact from the lander to the ground stations was lost earlier in the day during its powered descent minutes before the planned touch-down.
Chandrayaan-2 mission is a highly complex mission, which represents a significant technological leap compared to the previous missions of ISRO. It comprised an Orbiter, Lander and Rover to explore the unexplored South Pole of the Moon. The mission is designed to expand the lunar scientific knowledge through detailed study of topography, seismography, mineral identification and distribution, surface chemical composition, thermophysical characteristics of topsoil and composition of the tenuous lunar atmosphere, leading to a new understanding of the origin and evolution of the Moon. After the injection of Chandrayaan-2, a series of maneuvers were carried out to raise its orbit and on August 14, 2019, following a Trans Lunar Insertion maneuver, the spacecraft escaped from orbiting the earth and followed a path that took it to the vicinity of the Moon. The Orbiter placed in its intended orbit around the Moon will enrich our understanding of the moon’s evolution and mapping of the minerals and water molecules in Polar regions, using its eight state-of-the-art scientific instruments. The Orbiter camera is the highest resolution camera (0.3 m) in any lunar mission so far and will provide high resolution images which will be immensely useful to the global scientific community. The precise launch and mission management has ensured a long life of almost seven years instead of the planned one year.
Chandrayaan-3 India is all set to send its third mission to the moon, with an aim to achieve what its predecessor could not. The mission is set to “demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface”. A successful soft landing will make India the fourth country, after the United States, Russia, and China, to achieve the feat. The position remains vacant after the missions from Israel and India in 2019 crash-landed and the spacecraft carrying a lander-rover from Japan and a rover failed in 2022. The first moon rocket, Chandrayaan-1, was launched in 2008, and was successfully inserted into lunar orbit. While the objectives of the Chandrayaan-3 remain the same, scientists at the Indian Space Research Organization have learned from the previous mission. To achieve the mission objectives, several advanced technologies are present in Lander, such as,
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