Chandrayaan 3 is scheduled for launch on July 14, 2023, at 2:45 PM, about 4 years after Chandrayaan 2 was launched on July 22nd, 2019. So, what went wrong with Chandrayaan 2, and how is its follow-on mission, Chandrayaan 3, different? Let's find out in the story.
So, what went wrong with the Chandrayaan 2 mission? The Chandrayaan 2 spacecraft included three different parts: an Orbiter, Lander, and Rover. Despite the Vikram Lander failing to land as smoothly as had been hoped, the rest of the mission was a success. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) intended to land Chandrayaan 2's Vikram spacecraft on a smooth plane on the lunar surface, approximately 600 kilometers from the South Pole, on September 7, 2019. However, they lost contact with the Lander shortly before the scheduled landing due to a software error. This aspect of the Chandrayaan 2 mission was unsuccessful. Israel reported that the Vikram spacecraft performed normally up to an altitude of 2.1 kilometers. After that, communication was lost between the spacecraft and the mission control station on Earth.
So now, how is Chandrayaan 3 different from Chandrayaan 2? Chandrayaan 3 is different from Chandrayaan 2 because it won't have an Orbiter, and it will also carry a payload that Chandrayaan 2 didn't have, namely the Spectropolymmetry of a Habitable Planet Earth instrument. The Chandrayaan 3 payload section houses this instrument, which means that from lunar orbit, it will study the spectral and polymetric readings of Earth. This instrument examines the spectro-polymetric signals of Earth by using spectro-polarization, a method for polarizing light. It involves splitting incoming light into its individual colors and then examining the polarization of each color separately. Understanding the spectropolarimetric signatures of Earth can help scientists examine the light reflected from exoplanets and determine if they could support life.
Understanding the Mishap
How Chandrayaan 3 is different from Chandrayaan 2?
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