Chandrayaan-3 -Why south pole?

Several missions from different countries including India, Russia, Japan and Israel have attempted to land near the lunar south pole but failed.

The importance of the lunar south pole is that it holds promise for the establishment of future human bases. While the region has been shielded from orbit by various orbital missions, including Chandrayaan-2, which remains in lunar orbit, none have been able to land to conduct on-site experiments and studies of the lunar environment at and around the lunar South Pole. The region is believed to have abundant water ice and mineral resources capable of sustaining human livelihoods in the future.

Vikram will use his rover Pragyaan to conduct field studies. Somanath said Pragyaan will be deployed from the lander in the “next few hours or even a day to study surface conditions. It will operate on the lunar surface for 14 Earth days and collect valuable scientific data” that will be sent to the Deep Space Network centre at Byalalu near Bengaluru for analysis.

The lander’s mission is scheduled for 14 days (one lunar day), during which the lander’s three payloads and the rover’s two payloads will be active to study the lunar environment. In explaining the various components that will be used in the lunar mission, he said they were all developed in country. He added that the lander is equipped with some instruments provided by some countries to conduct tests on the lunar surface.

Beginning of the multiple exploration of space

ISRO chief Somanath said the success of Chandrayaan-3 means a lot to ISRO and marks the beginning of several space explorations, starting with “Aditya L1” to study the sun’s corona early next month. ISRO plans to explore Mars, Venus and other planets and asteroids, he added

5-watt signal amplifier

Chandrayaan-3 is the result of teamwork involving several scientists, technicians and entrepreneurs, among others, to make the project a success. ISRO Deputy Director Dr. B. H. M. Darukesha and his team had developed a 5-watt signal amplifier for communication, which is an important part of the Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover, — when no other country came forward to provide it to India, as amplifiers are mainly used by the military.

Rover desi cameras

The Pragyaan rover has two cameras that could be its eyes compared to the expensive cameras used by foreign space agencies. The rover’s software was developed by a Noida-based startup, Omnipresent Robot Technologies. Images taken by the rover would create a 3-D map of the lunar landscape. It also has a spectrometer to determine the chemical composition of the surface.

Nationwide posts on Chandrayaan-3

On the day India celebrated the successful mission of Chandrayaan 3, Hyderabad-based Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI) took a silent bow for its contribution in the form of world-class strategic materials that strengthen India’s defence, space, energy and allied industries. The company’s contribution to the Chandrayaan-3 mission is one of many key roles it has played in India’s scientific and technological advancements.

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