ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 mission set to embark on lunar journey today

With only hours left for the liftoff anticipation is building around the launch of Indias third lunar exploration mission Chandrayaan3 by the Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO on Friday reported ANIAccording to ANI the GSLV Mark 3 LVM 3 heavylift launch vehicle which will release the moon lander and rover into space will lift off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradeshs Sriharikota at 230 pmThe countdown for the launch began on Thursday at 143517 IST ahead of the liftoff on FridayChandrayaan3 will be ISROs followup attempt after the Chandrayaan2 mission faced challenges during its soft landing on the lunar surface in 2019 and was eventually deemed to have failed its mission objectivesThe Launch Rehearsal simulating the entire launch preparation and process was concluded earlier by the ISROChandrayaan3 is equipped with a lander a rover and a propulsion module It weighs around 3900 kilogramsThe ISROs third lunar exploration mission is equipped with eight payloads The experiments to be carried out by Chandrayan 3 include the Vikram lander named after Space scientist Vikram Sarabhai which will carry 4 instruments Pragyan Saanskrit for Wisdom rover will carry two instruments and Propulsion Module or the Orbiter will carry one experimentVikram landers experiments include Chandras Surface Thermophysical Experiment ChaSTE to measure surface thermal properties Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity ILSA to measure seismicity around the landing site Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere RAMBHA to study the gas and plasma environment and Passive laser retroreflector array provided by NASA for lunar ranging studiesWhile the Pragyan Saanskrit for Wisdom rover will carry two instruments to study the surface elemental composition Alpha Particle Xray Spectrometer APXS that will help determine the elemental composition of the lunar soil and rocks around the landing site and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope LIBS which will conduct qualitative and quantitative elemental analysis in order to infer the chemical and mineralogical composition of the lunar surfaceThe Propulsion Module or the Orbiter will carry Spectropolarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth SHAPE to study Earths spectral and polarimetric measurements from lunar orbit This helps scientists analyse the reflected light from exoplanets and determine whether they would qualify for habitabilityThe journey from Earth to the moon for the spacecraft is estimated to take about a month and the landing is expected on August 23Upon landing it will operate for one lunar day which is approximately 14 Earth days One day on the Moon is equal to 14 days on EarthK Sivan former director of ISRO told ANI that the success of mission Chandrayan3 will give a morale boost to programmes like Gaganyan Indias first manned space missionChandrayaan3s development phase commenced in January 2020 with the launch planned sometime in 2021 but the Covid19 pandemic brought an unforeseen delay to the missions progressThe major discovery of the Chandrayaan1 mission launched in 2008 was the detection of water H2O and hydroxyl OH on the lunar surface Data mined by the rover then also revealed their enhanced abundance towards the polar regionThe primary science objective of the mission was to prepare a threedimensional atlas of both the near and far sides of the Moon and to conduct chemical and mineralogical mapping of the entire lunar surface with high spatial resolution Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre under ISRO had saidMoon serves as a repository of the Earths past and a successful lunar mission by India will help enhance life on Earth while also enabling it explore the rest of the solar system and beyondDirector of Indian Space and Research Organisation ISRO S Somanath said earlier that if everything goes well the spacecraft will land on the moon on August 23The date has been decided based on the sunrise on the moon he said adding that if it gets delayed the landing may take place next monthANI