SUCCESS STORY OF MOON EXPLORATION BY ISRO

 Chandrayaan 3

     Indians across the world are happy and proud because Chandrayaan 3, India's moon mission accomplished a successful lunar landing on August 23, 2023. The mission commenced its voyage on July 14, 2023, from space centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

     Before this mission, India had two other moon missions: Chandrayaan 1 in 2008 and Chandrayaan 2 in 2019. Chandrayaan 1 did some tests on the Moon before loosing contact, and Chandrayaan 2 tried to land softly but failed. Nevertheless, Chandrayaan 3 learned from these missions and landed softly.

     Chandrayaan 3 is India's third moon mission. It has a lander named Vikram (named in honour of Dr. Vikram A Sarabhai, regarded as the Father of the Indian Space Programme) and was launched using a big rocket called GSLV Mark 3, also known as the 'Bahubali Rocket'. Unlike Chandrayaan 2, it didn't have a satellite going around the Moon. ISRO made changes based on what they learned from their previous mission.

     The Chandrayaan 3 rover explored the Moon's South Pole, making a significant discovery of Sulphur. Additionally, it identified the presence of Aluminium, Calcium, Iron, Chromium and Titanium on the lunar surface. The rover Pragyan, which means 'wisdom' in Sanskrit, is a solar-powered vehicle with six wheels and aimed at exploring the less-known South Pole of the Moon for sources of ice, potentially usable drinking water or rocket fuel which could be useful for future astronauts who visit the Moon.

     The mission cost about $75 million, which is less than making a Hollywood space-themed movie. Chandrayaan 3 garnered significant interest because it landed successfully just after Russia's Luna-25, who had difficulties in the same area. This success shows that India is improving at exploring space and learning more about the Moon. It serves as a reminder that when people work hard and use their creativity, intelligence and knowledge, they can achieve amazing results. Chandrayaan 3's journey inspires us to keep exploring the mysteries of space.

Some amazing facts of the Chandrayaan - 3 mission:

🌓 India became the fourth country to safely land on the Moon's surface and first nation in the world to land on the Moon's South Pole.

🌓 The landing site of Chandrayaan 3 has been officially named the Shiv Shakti Point. It is about 600 km (370 miles) from the south pole of the Moon. The name was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 26th August 2023.

🌓 Besides announcing the landing point for Chandrayaan 3 on 26th August 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared Chandrayaan 2's crash site as the Tiranga Point.

🌓 The Vikram Lander used in Chandrayaan 3 was equipped with four scientific instruments.

1) A seismometer designed to detect moonquakes.

2) Another instrument focused on studying heat transmission through the lunar surface.

3) The third aimed at understanding the plasma environment around the moon, and

4) The fourth one is retro-reflector, which helped to understand the gravitational interaction between moon and the planets.

     The Chandrayaan 3 was designed to survive one Lunar day or 14 Earth days. The rover completed its assignments. It is now safely parked and set into sleep mode.

     According to reports, Pragyan's batteries were fully charged and the receiver kept on. The solar panels were oriented so that they would receive sunlight when dawn broke on the moon.

     However, despite several tries, the rover and the lander did not wake up. There was no signal from Chandrayaan 3. The sun rose again on the moon on 20 September. The first three days – until 22 September – would have been the best window for the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover to revive. But Vikram and Pragyan failed to respond but the task is accomplished and mission was a grand success!