Chandrayaan-3: What will the payloads study on the moon?

India is on Moon, says PM Modi

India's third lunar expedition, Chandrayaan-3, will be critical in the country’s future missions to space. One of the key success factors will be the performance of the payloads carried by the spacecraft.

Once the Vikram lander has successfully transferred the Pragyan rover to the surface, the scientific payloads will kick into action, performing a series of experiments and investigations that may help unlock the mysteries of earth's celestial satellite.

Two of them, Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive Ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA), and Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA), will assist in taking readings of the moon's surface.

RAMBHA will measure the plasma density near the surface and the changes over time. ILSA will measure seismic activity around the landing site and will investigate the structure of the lunar crust and mantle.

Indian Space Research Organisation chairman S Somnath told PTI that ILSA will measure "the vibration — what you call the ‘moonquake’ behaviour or the internal processes — the movements happening there."

The rover will also study the moon's small atmosphere and how the atomic and charged particles within vary.

“We know the moon does not have any atmosphere. But this is not exactly true because gases do come out of it," Somnath told PTI. "Rather they get ionised and stay very close to the surface. This changes with day and night.”

A Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) will investigate the elemental composition of lunar soil and rocks, and an Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) will look at the moon's chemical composition and mineral composition on the surface.

The Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) will look for spectro-polarimetric signatures of earth in a near-infrared wavelength. This could potentially be used to scan for life beyond our solar system.