Chandrayaan-3 : What Will India Do On Moon

By Author: Preetam U. Revankar
Total Articles: 5
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Chandrayaan-3 was launched on 14th July 2023 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre Second Launch Pad in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, India and it successfully soft landed on Moon on 23rd August 2023 and whole world has congratulated us. Finally India is on the moon and the words we wanted to hear from the last 4 years have become reality now. But this is just the beginning of the mission. Chandrayaan-3s mission will help us to make colonies on the moon and we will help NASA in the future missions and all this will happen in coming 14 days. After landing, Chandrayaan-3 mission will run for 14 days or for one full lunar day the. After 14 days, the lunar day will end and the lunar night will begin. The temperature will instantly drop up to minus 130 degrees and there are no provisions made for surviving in such a low temperature and Chandrayaan-3 being solar powered, there is no other power source after 14 days. But these 14 days are very important because there are different payloads on the Chandrayaan-3. Payloads means apparatus which Chandrayaan-3 is equipped with and it has 3 parts, first is Propulsion module-which has one payload, ...
... Vikram Lander-which has 4 payloads and Pragyan Rover-which has 2 payloads.
1)Propulsion Module - It is fitted with SHAPE which means Spectropolarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth. It will observe Earth instead of the Moon. It will help us to study what are the components which make our Earth habitable due to which life is possible on Earth. As of now scientist have discovered more than 5000 exo-planets. With help of SHAPE instrument we will be able to find habitable exo-planets. Planets where there can be life or which in the near future can become our colonies. The planets which are many light years away from us can’t be seen easily from telescope but we can study the light coming from those planets. The light we see is called the visible spectrum. Apart from the light there are different types of rays, when these rays interact with an object, some rays get absorbed and some rays don’t. On this basis scientist will first study how light rays coming from Earth appear and in the future they will try to study where the light rays similar to Earth are coming from. With SHAPE we won’t exactly be able to know which planet the life exist but we will know in which direction we ought to try.
2)Vikram Lander – Vikram Lander’s name is in the memory of Father of Indian Space Program : Vikram Sarabhai. It has 4 payloads.
Its first payload is ILSA (Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity) - ILSA serves the purpose of measuring seismicity around the landing site, enabling scientists to delineate the structure of the lunar crust and mantle. By analyzing lunar seismic activity, this payload will contribute to our understanding of the Moon’s internal composition and geological processes. Studying the Lunar core is important to figure out which structures can be made there.
RAMBHA (Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere) - The RAMBHA apparatus is an instrumental resource for comprehensively exploring the lunar atmosphere and surface. Earth is surrounded by a system of magnetic fields, called the magnetosphere. The magnetosphere shields our home planet from harmful solar and cosmic particle radiation, but the magnetic field of the Moon is very weak in comparison to that of the Earth, so it happens that charged particles of the Sun reach directly to the Moon. Due to solar radiation and the Moon surface an ionosphere of charged particle is formed there. The ionosphere of the Moon when compared to the Earth is 1 million times less dense. So RAMBHA is an important step forward for the research in this area.
ChaSTE (Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment) – In future if we want to make a human colony on the Moon, we will have to send humans there and we will have to make different structures and buildings there. And will have to also make a climate controlled atmosphere inside it. It will have to be temperature controlled. Because temperature on the Moon’s surface fluctuates a lot. During the day the temperature is very high and during night the temperature falls very low. If we can control the temperature only then the building will have conditions where humans can stay alive for a longer time. So going on the Moon and studying heat is very important. This ChaSTE device will make a small hole on the surface of the Moon. Then the land in and around it will be heated. And then how the heat impacts the Moon will be studied. This heat has a lot of impact on other elements and one of them is water.
LRA (Laser Reflectrometer Array) – As we all know about a device called SONAR installed in submarines which sends sound waves in water to find water depth. Here submarines emit sound waves down towards the surface of the water and set a timer. Then it measures the time taken for those waves to come up after colliding with the surface below. From that we can know how deep the water is. LRA is a similar instrument, it is a mirror which with the help of laser can accurately measure the distance between the Moon and the Earth. This will help in making better calculations for future missions. This instrument is from NASA. In 1970s during the Apollo program, NASA has placed such reflectrometers on the Moon, but now the technology has improved. Now America is going to launch its Artemis Mission which will cost $ 93 billion. America is going to send humans to Moon after almost 50 years. So it is important to have accurate calculations and in this ISRO is helping them.
3)Pragyan Rover – This rover will explore only 0.5 km away from Vikram Lander but its work is also very important. This is a solar powered rover which will communicate with Vikram and then the information from Vikram will reach here to the Earth. It has two payloads.
APXS (Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer) – It is a radioactive gun which will study the soil there and most importantly what are the elements in the soil will be found out. This device have a radioactive element called Curium. This will blast alpha particles and X-ray on the surface of the Moon and this will be studied later. Here the main focus is on finding traces of magnesium, aluminum and iron.
LIBS (Laser Induced Breakdown Spectrometer) – This device will study the soil of the Moon with the help of light. These two payloads are important because if we want to make a structure on any other planet it will take a lot of equipment and it is not possible to take all the materials from Earth, so the best idea is to see what materials are available in the soil there, mine them and try to make something from them.
If we want to become an interplanetary species, that means not only on one planet, if we have to make a base on different planets then we have to adapt by going to the surface of the new planet. Using new elements we will have to make such structures that can support humans. If we want to start big programs in space, then the Moon can be our check point. The preparation of such ambitious plans of the future is starting with Chandrayaan-3. That is why Chandrayaan-3’s success is not only for India but has value for the whole of humanity. It is the beginning of a new era, because India from the beginning has made it clear that our space program is for peace. We are the only country that is using the space not for weapons or profit but for the benefit of the whole of humanity. Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam is India’s moto not only on Earth but also in space.

Long Term Impact of Chandrayaan-3
The biggest impact will be on the India’s economy. As India’s space sector is worth $ 8 billion today. Estimates say that by 2040, our space sector will be worth $40 billion. But these figures are before Chandrayaan-3s success. It is possible that now this progress will catch speed. The global space sector is growing by only 2% per annum, India’s space sector is growing by 4 % per annum and Indian Government is encouraging the startups of the space sector. In the coming 1 to 2 years we will hear the stories of India’s Space X. some of which are already doing a very good job in this sector. They are making water based eco-friendly engines, making a map of all the space satellites and making space travel safer.
The second impact will be on our space capabilities. Soft landing is very difficult and only 3 countries has done before India. Even Israel couldn’t soft land on the Moon. We have soft landing capabilities and we have now proved this. This is a matter of pride for us and this means in future human missions, we will have a greater contribution. Because of such capabilities which India has, America is trying to have a joint venture with us to launch space projects.
The third impact will be, Helium-3 mining. The energy sources of Earth are running out. We need alternative energy. Using helium-3 nuclear fusion can be a way to power Earth. This helium-3 is very rare element found on Earth but it is abundantly available on the Moon. Apart from India, countries like China, Russia and America are also trying to tap this energy. Chandrayaan-3 is important because it will be impossible to ignore us in the space sector and along with this, in lunar mining and Lars mission preparation our data will be very useful.
Chandrayaan-3 is pride of India, multiplexes were showing shows on landing with full houses, more than 8 million people watched Chandrayaan-3 landing live on YouTube. People of different religions, caste were brought together by science. Almost everyone left their political differences and atleast for a day focused on one goal and cheered for India. A common man who is not interested in space, stopped on the way to cheer for ISRO. This victory has made every Indian believe we are worthy of greatness and a tight slap for every person who thinks that nothing can happen in this country. Because of ISRO scientist our flag has reached the Moon and will bring more such opportunities for us in near future.

MBA Graduate, working as a Assistant Professor in Management Department at R L Law College, Belagavi, Karnataka, . Having a 9 years teaching experience in various subjects like International Business, Entrepreneurship Development, Business Environment, Business Communication, Production And Operations Management and Business Statistics.