Chandrayaan-3: Success could mean commercialisation of landing tech

Chandrayaan-3 is set to attempt landing on the Moon at around 6 pm on August 23

Around 6 pm on August 23, India will attempt another soft landing on the Moon, which, if successful, would make the country the first to do so on the lunar body’s South Pole.

In this nearly month-long journey, which started on July 14 from the SDSC-SHAR (Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR), Sriharikota, Chandrayaan-3 reached a lunar orbit on August 5, and has since been nearing the lunar surface.

A few days later, in a significant development, Chandrayaan-3 completed a successful separation of its landing and rover module from its propulsion system.

As the landing and rover module attempts to land on the Moon, here is all you need to know what the rover will do on the Moon, the ramifications of success and failure, and what lies ahead for the mission.

What happened to Chandrayaan-1 and Chandrayaan-2?

The 2008 Chandrayaan-1 mission was immensely successful and it had documented evidence of water molecules on the Moon. The Chandrayaan-2 launch in 2019, which, despite providing valuable data and insights (through its orbiter) about the Moon, failed in its main objective of making a landing on its surface.

Chandrayaan 3 live updates: ISRO wary of '17 minutes of terror' as lander prepares for touchdown

Chandrayaan-3, based on the learnings from the failed attempt of its predecessor, will attempt to make a soft landing and then conduct various experiments on the lunar surface with the help of its lander and rover, named Vikram and Pragyan, respectively.

Why the Moon?

"There could be a possibility of presence of water in permanently shadowed areas around the Lunar South Pole," ISRO said in 2019 in the lead-up to the Chandrayaan-2 mission.

This possible presence of frozen water is key to why space agencies and private companies are keen on the Moon, as it may help in the long-term objective of establishing Moon colonies, mining and so on.

Why is landing on the South Pole so hard?

It is not just Chandrayaan-2 that failed to land on the South Pole of the Moon. In fact, a few days ago, on August 20, Russia’s Luna-25 craft crashed on the lunar surface. The reason for this is that that area is full of craters and deep trenches.

Also Read: A new lunar space race is on and India will be seen and heard loud and clear with Chandrayaan-3

On August 21, Chandrayaan-3 located a safe landing area, without boulders or deep trenches assisted by the in-house developed Lander Hazard Detection and Avoidance Camera (LHDAC).

What will the lander and rover do specifically?

After Vikram lands on the Moon, Pragyan will be deployed which will carry out experiments on the surface. The lander, Vikram, has three payloads attached to it – Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE), Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) and Langmuir Probe (LP).

ChaSTE will measure thermal conductivity and temperature, and ILSA seismic activity around the landing site. The LP will be used for estimating plasma density.

Pragyan is retrofitted with Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) for deriving elemental composition of the landing site.

Also Read | Chandrayaan-3 Moon Mission: Here's why it is difficult to soft-land on the Moon

How important would the findings be?

Experts said that, after landing, Vikram and Pragyan can look for minerals of great importance that can give insights into the evolution of the Moon. It can also help in identifying minerals that India may like to extract in the future.

Another area of importance will be expanding on the discoveries of Chandrayaan-1, specifically with regards to water molecules on the South Pole, and seeing if water molecules can be split into hydrogen and oxygen. This would have immense ramification in future human habitation or fuel programmes.

What would a successful landing mean for India’s space programme?

Experts believe that any success in landing the Vikram on the lunar surface would mean commercialisation of Chandrayaan’s landing technology for missions under the Artemis Accords, Chaitanya Giri, a space scientist and associate professor at FLAME University, told Moneycontrol. India recently became a signatory to the Artemis Accords.

Also read: India signs Artemis Accords: What does it mean and why is it significant?

Secondly, a successful mission would also enable India to send more instruments aboard the lander and rover that can conduct more experiments.

“If it is successful, and if there is another mission to the Moon’s South Pole, we can have a newer variety of instruments that conduct research that is more commercial in nature for the eastern and the western markets. These experiments could be about extraction of water molecules, splitting it into hydrogen and oxygen, so on and so forth,” he said.

What would be the ramification of failure?

“Another setback, however, will mean that ISRO will have to get back to the drawing board to evaluate the cause of failure. But it is unlikely that there will be a repeat mission called Chandrayaan-4,” Pranav Satyanath, a research associate working on space policy at New Delhi-based Council for Strategic and Defense Research (CSDR), said.

“Instead, ISRO will most likely focus on the Lunar Polar Exploration (LUPEX) mission, which is jointly planned with the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA),” he added. According to reports, India and Japan will jointly undertake lunar missions under the LUPEX mission in 2025.