Mission Possible: India's Third Attempt to Conquer the Moon
Apparently, by the end of August of this year, a new member of the club of pioneers, India, will have been added to the top three countries that conquered the Moon, consisting of the United States, Russia and China.
Last Friday, on July 14, from the island of Sriharikota, located off the southern coast of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, the LVM3 launch vehicle was launched, which, after 20 minutes, safely delivered the Chandrayaan-3 interplanetary station into the Earth orbit and launched into further space travel, the purpose of which serves as the south pole of the Moon. It is worth noting that all previous successful missions to explore the satellite were focused on its equator, so if successful, India will take a truly historic step.
A 20-kilogram six-wheeled lunar rover with scientific instruments on board, on board the station, should help scientists to carry it out and expand work on studying the chemical composition of the soil and the seismic activity of the satellite.
In addition to the actual research work, Chandrayaan-3 has two more important tasks:
Arrival and landing will take place tentatively on August 23-24. The total duration of the mission directly on the satellite will be 1 lunar day or, in terms of the Earth time, 2 weeks.
This is India's third attempt to send its technology to the Moon. The first Chandrayaan apparatus, which delivered the same affected probe to the satellite, remained in the Moon orbit for almost a full year, after which communication with it was lost, the second one – Chandrayaan-2 – failed during an attempt to land, although its main unit is still located today in working order.
In addition to the Indians, Israel and Japan tried to storm the impregnable satellite, but their efforts were also unsuccessful. However, now the developers of Chandrayaan-3 have no doubts about their victory and are looking forward to the end of August.
Last Friday, on July 14, from the island of Sriharikota, located off the southern coast of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, the LVM3 launch vehicle was launched, which, after 20 minutes, safely delivered the Chandrayaan-3 interplanetary station into the Earth orbit and launched into further space travel, the purpose of which serves as the south pole of the Moon. It is worth noting that all previous successful missions to explore the satellite were focused on its equator, so if successful, India will take a truly historic step.
A 20-kilogram six-wheeled lunar rover with scientific instruments on board, on board the station, should help scientists to carry it out and expand work on studying the chemical composition of the soil and the seismic activity of the satellite.
In addition to the actual research work, Chandrayaan-3 has two more important tasks:
- to perform a soft landing (recall, the Moon Impact Probe, launched by India in 2008, was damaged as a result of hard landing),
- to demonstrate the capabilities of the all-terrain vehicle when it is on the surface of the satellite.
Arrival and landing will take place tentatively on August 23-24. The total duration of the mission directly on the satellite will be 1 lunar day or, in terms of the Earth time, 2 weeks.
This is India's third attempt to send its technology to the Moon. The first Chandrayaan apparatus, which delivered the same affected probe to the satellite, remained in the Moon orbit for almost a full year, after which communication with it was lost, the second one – Chandrayaan-2 – failed during an attempt to land, although its main unit is still located today in working order.
In addition to the Indians, Israel and Japan tried to storm the impregnable satellite, but their efforts were also unsuccessful. However, now the developers of Chandrayaan-3 have no doubts about their victory and are looking forward to the end of August.
Comments: 0