The Chandrayaan programme also known as the Indian Lunar Exploration Programme is an ongoing series of outer space missions by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The programme incorporates a lunar orbiter, impactor, soft lander and rover spacecraft.
The Chandrayaan project was boldly announced by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee during his Independence Day speech on August 15, 2003, marking a major milestone for India's space program. The idea of an Indian scientific mission to the Moon had been introduced in 1999 and subsequently explored by the Astronautical Society of India in 2000. The National Lunar Mission Task Force, established by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), determined that ISRO possessed the necessary technical expertise to conduct an Indian mission to the Moon. The recommendation to launch an Indian probe to the Moon was endorsed by over 100 prominent Indian scientists from various disciplines, including planetary and space sciences, Earth sciences, physics, chemistry, astronomy, astrophysics, engineering, and communication sciences, in April 2003. Just six months later, in November, the Indian government approved the mission.
Chandrayaan -1
The first phase of the mission involved launching the first lunar orbiters, which began with the successful launch of Chandrayaan-1 on a PSLV-XL rocket on October 22, 2008. The discovery of water on the Moon by the Moon Impact Probe, a payload on board the spacecraft, was a significant success for ISRO. In addition to identifying water, the Chandrayaan-1 mission performed several other tasks, such as mapping and atmospheric profiling of the Moon. Overall, the Chandrayaan project demonstrated India's technical prowess and capabilities in the field of space exploration.
Chandrayaan-2
On 18 September 2008, the First Manmohan Singh Cabinet approved the mission. Although ISRO finalised the payload for Chandrayaan-2 per schedule, the mission was postponed in January 2013 and rescheduled to 2016 because Russia was unable to develop the lander on time. Roscosmos later withdrew in the wake of the failure of the Fobos-Grunt mission to Mars, since the technical aspects connected with the Fobos-Grunt mission were also used in the lunar projects, which needed to be reviewed. When Russia cited its inability to provide the lander even by 2015, India decided to develop the lunar mission independently and unused orbiter hardware was repurposed to be used for Mars Orbiter Mission.
Chandrayaan-2 was launched on 22 July 2019 aboard an LVM3 rocket. The spacecraft was successfully put into lunar orbit on August 20, 2019, but the lander was lost while attempting to land on 6 September 2019. The orbiter is operational, collecting scientific data, and is expected to function for 7.5 years.
In November 2019, ISRO officials stated that a new lunar lander mission was being studied for launch in November 2020. This new proposal is called Chandrayaan-3 and it would be a re-attempt to demonstrate the landing capabilities needed for the Lunar Polar Exploration Mission proposed in partnership with Japan for 2025. This spacecraft configuration would not include launching an orbiter and would have a lander, rover, and propulsion module[21] with a mission costing ₹ 250 crore with additional launch costs of ₹ 365 crore for LVM3. This third mission would land in the same area as the second one. Chandrayaan-3 was launched on 14 July 2023 at 9:05:17 UTC. The primary goals of the Chandrayaan-3 mission encompass three key aspects. Firstly, it aims to showcase a successful and controlled touchdown on the lunar surface. Secondly, it intends to demonstrate the mobility of a rover on the Moon's terrain. Lastly, it seeks to carry out scientific experiments directly on the lunar surface.
Comments