Chandrayaan 3 / Vikram 2

Chandrayaan 3 [ISRO]
(cruise configuration, Lander with Propulsion Module)

Chandrayaan 3 Lander (Vikram 2) [ISRO]

Chandrayaan 3 Rover (Pragyan) [ISRO]

Chandrayaan-3 is an Indian mission to the Moon, which will have a Propulsion Module (Orbiter), a Lander and a Rover. After reaching the 100 km lunar orbit, the Lander housing the Rover will separate from the Propulsion Module. After a controlled descent, the Lander will soft land on the lunar surface at a specified site and deploy a Rover.

The science goals of the mission are to further improve the understanding of the origin and evolution of the Moon using instruments onboard Orbiter and in-situ analysis of lunar samples using Lander and Rover.

Chandrayaan-3 was succdessfully launched on India’s LVM3 (2) in July 2023. The lander and rover are expected to land near the lunar south pole region on 23 August 2023.

Propulsion Module (PM)

The propulsion module will carry the lander and rover configuration till 100 km lunar orbit. The propulsion module has Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload to study the spectral and polarimetric measurements of Earth from the lunar orbit.

Lander Craft (LC)

The lander is an improved version of Chandrayaan 2's Vikram lander with increased fuel and only four instead of five throttlable engines.

Chandrayaan 3’s lander carries following payloads:

• Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) to measure the thermal conductivity and temperature;
• Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) for measuring the seismicity around the landing site;
• Langmuir Probe (LP) to estimate the plasma density and its variations.
• A passive Laser Retroreflector Array from NASA is accommodated for lunar laser ranging studies.

Rover

Chandrayaan 3’s 27 kg rover is a 6-wheeled robotic vehicle named Pragyan, which translates to ‘wisdom’ in Sanskrit. It can travel up to 500 m at a speed of 1 cm per second, and leverages solar energy for its functioning. It communicates via the lander. The planned mission life is one lunar day. It is a copy of Chandrayaan 2's rover

Following scientific payloads selected for Indian Rover would carry out elemental analysis of the lunar surface near the landing site.

• Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APIXS) to determine the elemental composition near the landing site
• Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) to derive elemental abundance in the vicinity of the landing site