All eyes on ISRO as country eagerly awaits launch of Chandrayaan 3

As the clock ticks for ISROs highprofile launch of the year the Chandrayaan3 lunar mission all eyes are on the countrys space agency whose scientists are keen to taste success with a soft landing on lunar surface and put the country in an elite club of nations that have accomplished the challenging taskFat boy LVM3M4 rocket will carry Chandrayaan3 on Friday as part of the countrys ambitious moon mission The Indian Space Research Organisation will be launching the hugely anticipated mission from this spaceport at 235 pm on Friday The soft landing on moons surface is planned for late AugustChandrayaan2 failed to achieve the desired soft landing on the moon surface in 2019 leaving the ISRO team dejected Images of an emotional then ISRO chief K Sivan being consoled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was present to achieve the rare feat remains vivid in the memory of manyScientists at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here after investing many hours of hardwork now aim at mastering the technology of softlanding on the surface of the moon A success would make India only the fourth country to achieve the feat after the United States China and the former Soviet UnionChandrayaan3 is the third lunar exploration mission ready for take off in the fourth operational mission M4 of LVM3 launcher ISRO is crossing new frontiers by demonstrating softlanding on the lunar surface by its lunar module and demonstrating roving on the lunar terrain the space agency saidThe 2530 hour countdown for the launch is underwayThe mission is expected to be supportive to future interplanetary missionsChandrayaan3 mission consists of an indigenous propulsion module lander module and a rover with an objective of developing and demonstrating new technologies required for interplanetary missionsThe largest and heaviest LVM3 rocket formerly GSLV MkIII fondly called as fat boy by ISRO scientists for its heavylift capability has completed six consecutive successful missionsFridays mission is the fourth operational flight of LVM3 which aims to launch the Chandrayaan3 spacecraft into a Geo Transfer OrbitThe launch window has been fixed for July similar to that of Chandrayaan2 mission July 22 2019 because the earth and moon would be closer to each other during this period of the yearFridays mission follows Chandrayaan2 where scientists aim to demonstrate various capabilities including reaching the orbit of the moon making a softlanding on the lunar surface using a lander and a rover coming out of the lander to study the surface of the moonAccording to scientists around 16 minutes after liftoff propulsion module is expected to get separated from the rocket and would orbit the earth for about 56 times in an elliptical cycle with 170 km closest and 36500 km farthest from earth moving towards the lunar orbitThe propulsion module along with the lander after gaining speed would proceed for an over a month long journey towards reaching the orbit of the moon until it goes 100 km above the lunar surfaceAfter reaching the desired position the lander module would begin its descent for a soft landing on the south pole region of the moon and this action is expected to take place on August 23 or 24 scientists at ISRO saidThe moons south pole region has been chosen because the Lunar South Pole remains much larger than that at the North pole There could be a possibility of presence of water in permanently shadowed areas around itThe significance about Chandrayaan3 mission unlike its unsuccessfu predecessor is that the Propulsion Module has a payload SHAPE Spectro polarimetry of HAbitable Planet Earth to study earth from lunar orbitISRO said the SHAPE is an experimental payload to study the spectropolarimetric signatures of the Earth in the nearinfrared wavelength rangeApart from the SHAPE payload the Propulsion Modules main function is to carry the Lander Module from launch vehicle injection orbit to till lander separationThe lander module after landing on the surface of the moon has payloads including RAMBHALP which is to measure the near surface plasma ions and electrons density and its changes ChaSTE Chandras Surface Thermo Physical Experiment to carry out the measurements of thermal properties of lunar surface near polar region and ILSA Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity to measure seismicity around the landing site and delineating the structure of the lunar crust and mantleThe Rover after the softlanding would come out of the lander module and study the surface of the moon through its payloads APXS Alpha Particle XRay Spectrometer to derive the chemical composition and infer mineralogical composition to further enhance understanding of lunar surfaceRover which has a mission life of 1 lunar day 14 Earth days also has another payload Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope LIBS to determine the elemental composition of lunar soil and rocks around the lunar landing site ISRO saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday 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