Chandrayaan-3 mission’s Vikram lander’s profitable touchdown on August 23, in shut proximity to the prime touchdown website at 69.37° south latitude and 32.35° east longitude, close to the Manzinus U crater marked the highest-ever latitude achieved by a spacecraft throughout a mushy moon touchdown. The European House Company’s (ESA’s) ESTRACK deep-space monitoring station in New Norcia, Australia, performed an important position in supporting the descent.
Chandrayaan-3’s lander, Vikram, and rover, Pragyaan, carried out knowledge and picture assortment within the area for about ten days earlier than transmitting the gathered info again to Earth for evaluation. Pragyan was put to sleep on September 2 and Vikram on September 4, whereas ISRO confirmed, “The rover has efficiently fulfilled its designated duties.”
ISRO had expressed the hope that the lander might be reactivated on the finish of a two-week lunar night time when the rover and lander’s location would have been bathed in daylight. The lunar dawn had occurred on September 20 and probably the most beneficial alternative for Vikram and Pragyan to reactivate prolonged till September 22, spanning the preliminary three days.
“Neither Vikram, nor Pragyan was outfitted with methods to take care of heat in temperatures that would drop to as little as -190°C. Daylight began dissipating from the lunar floor once more on September 30 at the same time as ISRO scientists hoped to revive Vikram and Pragyan with the arrival of a brand new lunar day. Nonetheless, regardless of quite a few makes an attempt, Vikram and Pragyan remained dormant, with no indicators acquired from Chandrayaan-3,” defined area knowledgeable Girish Linganna.
Shortly earlier than the rover was deactivated on September 2, ISRO talked about that Pragyan had coated a distance of greater than 100 metres and was nonetheless in movement—a outstanding journey for the six-wheeled rover, contemplating its pace of just one cm/s. Pragyan additionally averted descending into craters scattered all through the moon’s south polar area as its specialised mechanism allowed particular person wheels to maneuver independently, facilitating journey over numerous terrains.
“The preliminary knowledge set obtained from the lunar topsoil extending to a depth of 10 cm beneath the floor by way of a probe on the Vikram lander revealed a stark temperature distinction simply above and beneath the floor. Floor temperatures had been noticed at almost 60°C, whereas they sharply decreased beneath the floor, reaching -10°C at a depth of 80 mm,” remarked Linganna.
The moon is understood for its excessive temperature variations, with daytime temperatures close to the lunar equator hovering to a scorching 120°C and nighttime temperatures plummeting to a frigid -130°C. In perpetually shadowed craters, the place daylight by no means reaches, temperatures as little as -250°C have been recorded. The broad temperature vary is important because it signifies that the moon’s soil (lunar regolith) serves as a extremely efficient insulator and will doubtlessly be harnessed for establishing area colonies to manage temperature and defend in opposition to radiation, making it a pure alternative for habitat development.
“Pragyan’s laser detector that measured chemical substances on the lunar floor traced numerous components together with aluminum, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese, silicon and oxygen. However probably the most important ingredient was sulphur, which usually originates from volcanoes, so contributing to our understanding of how the moon shaped and developed, apart from its geographical options. Since sulphur serves as a invaluable fertiliser, additionally it is promising information for potential plant development if there’s ever a lunar habitat,” mentioned Lingana
The Vikram lander was outfitted with an instrument, the Instrument for Lunar Seismic Exercise (ILSA), which not solely monitored vibrations arising from its personal analysis and experiments but in addition these generated by the rover and its operations. Whereas ILSA was listening carefully to lunar actions, it additionally recorded an occasion that gave the impression to be of pure origin and was actively investigating its supply. It may need resulted from area particles, akin to a meteorite or an asteroid impacting the lunar floor, or it may have been a seismic occasion, doubtlessly marking the primary Moonquake recorded because the Seventies.
ISRO shared on X (previously Twitter) that Vikram had carried out the “first-ever measurements of the near-surface lunar plasma atmosphere” within the south polar area and decided it to be “comparatively sparse”. Plasma denotes the existence of charged particles within the ambiance, which may doubtlessly intervene with the radio-wave communication employed by Chandrayaan-3. However the lunar plasma was discovered to be very skinny, which implied that it could trigger considerably much less disruption to radio communication.
The final motion carried out by Vikram earlier than it was deactivated was known as a “hop experiment”. The lander was instructed to activate its engines, lifting off by roughly 40 cm and touchdown at a distance of 30-40 cm. This profitable experiment, testing the engine’s functionality to restart after a lunar touchdown, signified that the spacecraft may doubtlessly be utilized sooner or later for such duties as returning samples to Earth or supporting human missions.
