What was the mission Chandrayaan-3 able to achieve?

What was the mission Chandrayaan-3 able to achieve?

Pragyan's laser detector tracked different elements by measuring the chemicals on the surface.

The greatest latitude ever reached by a spacecraft during a soft moon landing was reached on August 23, when the Vikram lander of the Chandrayaan-3 project successfully landed in the Manzinus U crater, near the primary landing location at 69.37° south latitude and 32.35° east longitude. Support for the descent was greatly aided by the ESTRACK deep-space tracking station operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) in New Norcia, Australia.

For almost 10 days, the lander Vikram and rover Pragyaan of Chandrayaan-3 collected data and images in the area before sending the material back to Earth for processing. September 2 marked the end of Pragyan's life, while September 4 marked the end of Vikram's. ISRO said that “the rover has successfully fulfilled its designated tasks” throughout this time.

After a two-week lunar night, when the lander and rover would have been exposed to sunlight, ISRO had said that it hoped to restart the lander. September 20 was the lunar dawn, and the first three days of September 22 were the most favorable window for Vikram and Pragyan to revive.

Vikram and Pragyan lacked the necessary mechanisms to stay warm in conditions that may plummet as low as -190°C. On September 30, sunlight began to disappear from the lunar surface once again, despite ISRO scientists' hopes that the onset of a new lunar day would bring Vikram and Pragyan back to life. Satellite scientist Girish Linganna said, "Yet, despite multiple attempts, Vikram and Pragyan remained dormant, with no communications received from Chandrayaan-3."

Pragyan traveled approximately 100 meters and was still moving, according to ISRO just before the rover was deactivated on September 2. This was an amazing feat for the six-wheeled rover, given its slow speed of 1 cm/s. Because of its unique system that let each wheel to drive independently, Pragyan was also able to avoid plunging into craters that were dispersed across the south polar area of the moon, which made it easier to traverse over a variety of terrains.

A significant temperature difference was found immediately above and below the surface in the first data set taken from the lunar topsoil down to a depth of 10 cm using a probe on the Vikram lander. Nearly 60°C was recorded at the surface, but temperatures dropped rapidly below it, reaching -10°C at a depth of 80 mm, according to Linganna.

Extreme temperature swings are well-known on the moon, where daytime highs close to the lunar equator may reach a scorching 120°C and nocturnal lows of -130°C. Temperatures as low as -250°C have been observed in permanently shaded craters where sunlight never penetrates. The large range of temperatures is important because it shows that the lunar regolith, or soil, is an extremely good insulator and could be used to build space colonies in order to control temperature and provide radiation protection. This makes it an obvious choice for habitat construction.

Using a laser detector, Pragyan was able to measure those components aluminum, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese, silicon, and oxygen on the lunar surface. Beyond its physical characteristics, sulfur—which usually comes from volcanoes—was the most important component, as it helped us understand how the moon developed and changed over time. If a lunar home is ever created, sulfur's usefulness as a fertilizer bodes well for future plant development, according to Lingana.

The Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA), which was part of the Vikram lander's equipment, tracked vibrations caused by the rover and its activities in addition to those resulting from the lander's own research and experiments. In addition to keeping a careful eye on moon activity, ILSA detected an apparent natural occurrence and was actively looking into its cause. It might have been caused by space debris hitting the moon, like a meteorite or asteroid, or it could have been a seismic event that could be the first to be recorded since the 1970s.

Vikram carried out the "first-ever measurements of the near-surface lunar plasma surroundings" in the south polar area, which ISRO announced on X (previously Twitter), concluding that it was "relatively sparse." The term "plasma" refers to charged particles in the atmosphere that may interfere with Chandrayaan-3's radio-wave communication system. However, it was discovered that the lunar plasma was quite thin, suggesting that radio transmission would be substantially less disrupted.

The last deed that Vikram did before it was turned off was called a "hop experiment." The lander was told to start its engines, launching around 40 cm into the air and landing 30–40 cm away. The spacecraft may be used in the future to assist human trips or return samples to Earth, according to this successful experiment evaluating the engine's capacity to restart after a lunar landing.