Vikram Lander of . Chandrayaan-3 can be seen resting on the surface of the moon in this image clicked with Pragyan Rover’s navigation camera.

Chandrayaan-3’s lander module, Vikram, had generated an ‘ejecta halo’ on the lunar surface while making the historic touchdown on the south pole of the moon on August 23. 

According to a new study, Vikram raised lunar dust and generated a bright patch around itself when it landed on the moon.

”Chandrayaan-3 Results: On August 23, 2023, as it descended, the Chandrayaan-3 Lander Module generated a spectacular ‘ejecta halo’ of lunar material. Scientists from NRSC/ISRO estimate that about 2.06 tonnes of lunar epi regolith were ejected and displaced over an area of 108.4 m² around the landing site”, ISRO posted on X (formerly Twitter).

These findings were published in an article titled Characterisation of Ejecta Halo on the Lunar Surface Around Chandrayaan-3 Vikram Lander Using OHRC Imagery, in the Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing on October 26.

“The Vikram lander of the Chandrayaan-3 mission landed near the south pole of the moon on August 23. During the action of descent stage thrusters and the consequent landing, a significant amount of lunar surficial epi regolith material got ejected, resulting in a reflectance anomaly or ejecta halo”, states the abstract of the article, authored by Swati Singh, Prakash Chauhan, Priyom Roy, Tapas R. Martha and Iswar C. Das from ISRO’s National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad.

The authors added that they compared the pre- and post-landing high-resolution panchromatic imagery from Orbiter High-Resolution Camera (OHRC) of the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, acquired hours before, and after the landing event, and characterised this ejecta halo as an irregular bright patch surrounding the lander.

“From the mapped and classified, uncorrelated ejecta halo pixels, an approximate areal extent of 108.4 m2 is estimated to have been covered by lunar epi regolith ejecta displaced due to the landing sequence of the Vikram lander. Further, using empirical relations, we estimate that approximately 2.06 tonnes of lunar epi regolith were ejected due to the landing event,” the authors added.

India became the fourth country to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon, and the first nation to touch down in the polar region when the Chandrayaan-3’s lander module, with the rover in its belly, successfully made a soft landing on the lunar surface on August 23.

Since landing on the moon, Vikram and Pragyan Rover have carried out many in-situ measurements, like confirmation of the presence of sulphur in the region, and detecting the presence of minor elements, among other things.

Vikram also achieved a significant milestone, as it successfully undertook a hop experiment when the lander — on command — fired the engines, elevated itself by about 40 cm, and landed safely at a distance of 30-40 cm away.

The lander and the rover went to sleep after the end of one lunar day (14 Earth days). Efforts to wake them up have not been successful so far.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs a high-level meeting to assess the progress of the Gaganyaan Mission and to outline the future of India’s space exploration endeavours, in New Delhi on October 17, 2023. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman S Somanath is also present.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Signalling a roadmap for India’s future space ambitions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “directed” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to set up an India-crafted, indigenous space station by 2035 and land an Indian on the moon by 2040. This followed a review of preparations for the Gaganyaan mission — India’s first manned mission to space, scheduled for 2025 — on October 17.

“Building on the success of the Indian space initiatives, including the recent Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya L-1 missions, Prime Minister directed that India should now aim for new and ambitious goals, including setting up ‘Bharatiya Antariksha Station’ (Indian Space Station) by 2035 and sending first Indian to the Moon by 2040,” said a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

Mission to the moon, and beyond

Mr. Modi chaired the meeting to assess the progress of the Gaganyaan mission and outline the future of Indian space exploration. The Department of Space (DoS), under which ISRO functions, presented the state of preparedness and technologies developed for Gaganyaan. A critical test of a module called the Crew Escape System Test vehicle is scheduled for Saturday.

The DoS will make a roadmap for moon exploration, which will consist of a “series of Chandrayaan missions, developing a new generation launch vehicle, constructing a new launch pad, setting up human-centric laboratories and associated technologies,” the PMO statement said.

Mr Modi also “called upon” scientists to work towards interplanetary missions, including a space vehicle to orbit Venus and one that will land on Mars.

Expensive plans

The International Space Station (ISS), jointly developed and maintained by the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan, and European agencies, is the largest space station but is expected to be decommissioned by 2030 due to escalating costs and disagreement among partner countries on finances. China’s Tiangong is the only other space station, with three astronauts on board, though it is only about 40% of the size of the ISS. Since India signed the Artemis Accords, the United States’ endeavour to return to the moon, there are plans to send an Indian to the ISS in 2024.

Experts have said that a manned mission to the moon and a space station will require large, sustained investments and significant contribution from the private sector. While space stations and moon missions involving the U.S. and Russia were a product of military space races, future space stations will need to follow a different template that would require extensive testing and thus, high costs, an expert connected to the ISRO told The Hindu on condition of anonymity.

“The technological development that enabled the Apollo missions [which landed U.S. astronauts on the moon] would be crude by today’s standards. As the Gaganyaan mission demonstrates, there are multiple ground tests for every stage and these are what make missions expensive. We’ll need to wait for budgets before deciding on whether these are realistic timelines,” the person added.

Image of Vikram lander released by Indian Space Research Organisation. File
| Photo Credit: ANI

After the Chandrayaan-3’s rover Pragyan, the lander Vikram has been put into sleep mode. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Monday said that it had put Vikram into sleep mode around 8 a.m.

“Vikram Lander is set into sleep mode around 08:00 Hrs. IST today. Prior to that, in-situ experiments by ChaSTE, RAMBHA-LP and ILSA payloads are performed at the new location. The data collected is received at the Earth. Payloads are now switched off. Lander receivers are kept on,” the ISRO said.

On September 2, the space organisation said that Pragyan had completed its assignments and it had been safely parked and set into sleep mode. Pragyan’s receiver had been kept on.

The ISRO added that Vikram would fall asleep next to Pragyan once the solar power was depleted and the battery was drained. The ISRO is hoping that it would wake up both Vikram and Pragyan on September 22. “Hoping for their awakening, around September 22, 2023,” it said on Monday.

While announcing that Pragyan would go to sleep mode, the ISRO had posted on X (formerly Twitter): “Currently, the battery is fully charged .The solar panel is oriented to receive the light at the next sunrise expected on September 22, 2023. The receiver is kept on. Hoping for a successful awakening for another set of assignments! Else, it will forever stay there as India’s lunar ambassador.”

Also Read | Chandrayaan-3 | Vikram hops on the Moon and lands safely

The lander and the rover, with a mission life of one lunar day (14 earth days), have scientific payloads to carry out experiments on the lunar surface. Since its landing on the moon on August 23, they have carried out many in-situ measurements and taken pictures.

“The lander and the rover will stay on the moon for 14 days until they get sunlight. When there is no sunlight, a small solar panel, which is on the rover, will generate power to charge the battery for the next 14 days until they get sunlight,” ISRO chairman S. Somanath had said earlier.

Once the sun sets on the moon, temperature can plunge below minus 200°C.

“The temperature there goes down to -200 minus degrees. In such an environment, there is no guarantee that the battery, electronics will survive, but we did some tests and we get the feeling that they will survive even in such harsh conditions,” Mr. Somanath had said.

The ISRO’s LVM3 carrying Chandrayaan-3 at the launch pad before its launch.

Year 2023 seems to be the year of the Moon as a number of lunar missions are scheduled to take place this year.

In the past two months, two missions were launched — India’s second mission to the Moon Chandrayaan-3 on July 14 and Russia’s Luna-25 on August 11.

While India’s Chandrayaan-3 met with success when its lander module safely touched down on the lunar surface and was followed by the rover’s rollout on Thursday, Luna 25 suffered a glitch and crashed on the moon’s surface on August 19.

Apart from these two missions, there are four more lined up for this year.

They include the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) and Lunar Trailblazer from the U.S..

NASA’s CLPS initiative, according to the U.S. space agency, allows rapid acquisition of lunar delivery services from American companies for payloads that advance capabilities for science, exploration or commercial development of the Moon. The Lunar Trailblazer on the other hand is an Orbiter.

The other moon missions include China’s lunar communication and navigation satellite constellation and Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) which is an Orbiter/lander mission.

This year also saw another failure as Japan’s Hakuto-R lander failed to make a moon landing in April. Had the Hakuto-R mission completed its task, it would have been the world’s first commercial soft landing on the lunar surface.

According to ISRO as of July 2023, there are six active lunar orbiters and currently, the only operating rover is China’s Yutu-2 rover released by Chang’e 4, which operates on the far side.

Next year, Beresheet 2 from Israel, U.S.’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER), China’s Lunar Exploration Programme (CLEP) Chang’e 6 and Hakuto-II are expected to be launched.

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The indigenous rover’s exploration of the lunar surface began a day after India became the fourth country to successfully land on the moon, spurring euphoric celebrations at ISRO and around the country. Photo: ISRO

Hours after the Pragyan lunar rover rolled out from the Vikram lander and took its first “walk on the moon” in the early hours of Thursday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that the historic Chandrayaan-3 Mission was running on schedule, with all systems working normally. Instruments aboard the lander and rover will now study the moon’s mineral composition and the seismic activities in its atmosphere, according to ISRO chairman S. Somanath.

The indigenous rover’s exploration of the lunar surface began a day after India became the fourth country to successfully land on the moon, spurring euphoric celebrations at ISRO and around the country.

‘Walk on the moon’

“Chandrayaan-3 ROVER: Made in India Made for the MOON! The Ch-3 Rover ramped down from the Lander and India took a walk on the moon!” ISRO posted on social media platform X, on Thursday morning.

President Draupadi Murmu had made the first announcement of the rover’s successful deployment at 7 a.m. “Its rolling out a few hours after the landing of Vikram marked the success of yet another stage of Chandrayan 3. I look forward with excitement, alongside my fellow citizens and scientists to the information and analyses that Pragyan will acquire and enrich our understanding of the moon,” she posted.

‘All systems are normal’

Later in the evening, ISRO added an update on mission operations and the payloads aboard the lander. “Chandrayaan-3 Mission: All activities are on schedule. All systems are normal. Lander Module payloads ILSA, RAMBHA and ChaSTE are turned ON today. Rover mobility operations have commenced. SHAPE payload on the Propulsion Module was turned ON on Sunday,” it posted.

Dr. Somanath confirmed that the rover movement is happening and working very well. He told the Press Trust of India that there are two instruments in the rover and three instruments on board the lander, and all of them have been switched on sequentially.

“They will study basically the mineral composition of the moon, as well as the atmosphere of the Moon and the seismic activities there,” he added.

‘Perfect landing’

Dr. Somanath also said that the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft’s lander Vikram had touched down on the moon’s surface well within the area identified for the purpose.

“(The lander landed) perfectly in the intended site. The landing location was marked as 4.5 km x 2.5 km — I think on that space, and the exact centre of that was identified as the location of landing. It landed within 300 metres of that point. That means it is well within the area identified for landing,” he said.

(with PTI inputs)

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The Lander Module (LM) successfully underwent a deboosting operation that reduced its orbit to 113 km x 157 km.
| Photo Credit: Twitter/@isro

A day after the lander module (LM) separated from the propulsion module (PM) , it successfully underwent a deboosting operation on August 18.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that the LM successfully underwent a deboosting operation that reduced its orbit to 113 km x 157 km.

Also read: ISRO releases two videos of the Moon on August 18 

The space agency plans to carry out the second deboosting operation on August 20, 2023.

“The second deboosting operation is scheduled for August 20, 2023, around 0200 Hrs. IST,” it said after the first deboosting operation.

The lander is expected to touch down on the moon surface on August 23, 2023 at 5.47 p.m.

On August 17 the propulsion module and the lander module successfully separated and embarked on their respective journeys.

The Chandrayaan-3 consists of a lander module, a propulsion module and a rover.

The lander will have the capability to soft land at a specified lunar site and deploy the Rover, which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility. The lander and the rover have scientific payloads to carry out experiments on the lunar surface.

The main function of the propulsion module is to carry the lander module from launch vehicle injection till final lunar 100 km circular polar orbit and separate the Lander Module from the propulsion module.

The propulsion module also has one scientific payload as a value addition which will be operated post-separation of the lander module. The payload will be operational for a period of three to six months. The lander and the rover have a mission life of one lunar day (14 Earth days).