10 𝓲𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓯𝓪𝓬𝓽𝓼 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓼𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝓪𝓫𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓻𝓪𝔂𝓪𝓪𝓷-3

 Today India achieved historic feat to become the first country to successfully land its rover to south pole of the Moon as soon as the lander Vikram landed on moon's surface at 6:04 PM. The mission is  engineered indigenously at  ISRO, Andhrapradesh. Let us know about 10 interesting facts about Chandrayaan-3, which we must know. 

10 interesting facts about Chandrayaan 3

1. Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2, which has successfully soft-landed at Moon's south pole. It consists of a lander and a Rover launched by the LVM3 rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, ISRO, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Though Chandrayaan-2 faced a glitch, the orbiter still provides valuable data.

2. The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, also known as Launch Vehicle Mark III, supports the moon lander Vikram. The launcher stands about  metre tall, facilitating Chandrayaan-'s mission to the Moon.

3. Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the moon at 6:04 PM on 23rd August after a 40 day voyage. It landed on the moon's south pole where Chandrayaan-1 discovered water molecules, achieving a major breakthrough.

4. ISRO has made modifications to enhance Chandrayan-3's reliability. It comprises Lander Vikram, named after Vikram Sarabhai, Rover Pragyan, and a propulsion module. Vikram Lander's weight increased by 280 kg and carries more fuel for the lunar journey.

5. The craft's collective weight is 3900 kg, with 2148 kg for propulsion and 1752 kg for the lander and Rover combined, close to GSLV MK III's maximum capacity, India's strongest rocket. 

6. Chandrayaan-3 has three phases: Earth-Centric, Lunar-Transfer and Moon-Centric. Earth Centric includes pre-launch and earth bound manoeuvre, Lunar-Centric guides trajectory to Lunar orbit and Moon-Centric covers lunar orbit insertion and landing. 

7. Chandrayan-3's Pragyan rover will explore the moon. It will be released from the lander using a ramp, it is a solar powered six-wheeled rover equipped with two spectrometres to study the moon's surface composition during its 14 Earth Days of exploration. 

8. Vikram Lander has four scientific instruments: seismometer for moonquakes (similar to earthquakes on earth), heat movement study on the lunar surface, exploration of moon's plasma environment, and a retro-reflector for gravitational interactions. 

9. The lander touched down on the moon's surface with horizontal and vertical velocities below 5 metres per second and 2 metres per second, respectively, and at a slope less than 120 degrees. 

10. After Chandrayaan-3's successful landing on the moon, India became the fourth country, after United States, Russia (erstwhile Soviet Union) and China to achieve this feat. Now India has become FIRST NATION to land on the moon's South Pole. 

Courtesy: ISRO and other websites