Chandrayaan-3
Image of Vikram lander on lunar surface taken by Pragyan rover navcam at 1104 IST, 30 August 2023 from 15 meters away | |
| Mission type |
|
|---|---|
| Operator | ISRO |
| COSPAR ID | 2023-098A |
| SATCAT no. | 66666 |
| Website | Official website |
| Mission duration | 1 year, 1 month and 8 days (PM)
|
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Bus | I-3K (modified) Propulsion Module; Vikram (lander)[1] |
| Manufacturer | ISRO |
| Launch mass | 3900 kg (8600 lb)[2] |
| Payload mass | Propulsion Module: 2148 kg (4736 lb) Lander Module (Vikram): 1726 kg (3806 lb) Rover (Pragyan) 26 kg (57 lb) Total: 3900 kg (8600 lb) |
| Power | Propulsion Module: 758 W Lander Module: 738 W (WS with Bias) Rover: 50 W |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 14 July 2023, 14:35:17 IST (09:05:17 UTC)[3] |
| Rocket | LVM3 M4 |
| Launch site | Satish Dhawan Space Centre |
| Contractor | ISRO |
| End of mission | |
| Last contact | 22 August 2024, 04:20 UTC[4] |
| Moon orbiter | |
| Orbital insertion | 5 August 2023 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Periselene altitude | 153 km (95 mi) |
| Aposelene altitude | 163 km (101 mi) |
| Moon lander | |
| Spacecraft component | Vikram lander |
| Landing date | 23 August 2023, 18:00 IST (12:33 UTC)[5] |
| Return launch | 3 September 2023[5] |
| Landing site | Statio Shiv Shakti (Shiv Shakti Point)[6]
69°22′23″S 32°19′08″E / 69.373°S 32.319°E[7] (between Manzinus C and Simpelius N craters)[8] |
| Moon rover | |
| Landing date | 23 August 2023 |
| Distance driven | 101.4 m (333 ft)[9] |
| Moon lander | |
| Spacecraft component | Vikram lander |
| Landing date | 3 September 2023[5] |
| Landing site | 40 cm (16 in) away from Statio Shiv Shakti (Shiv Shakti Point)[10] (between Manzinus C and Simpelius N craters)[8] |
| Flyby of Moon | |
| Spacecraft component | Propulsion module |
| Closest approach | 7 November 2023 |
Mission insignia | |
Chandrayaan-3 (CHUN-drə-YAHN /ˌtʃʌndrəˈjɑːn/) is the third mission in the Chandrayaan programme, a series of lunar-exploration missions developed by ISRO.[11] The mission consists of Vikram, a lunar lander, and Pragyan, a lunar rover, as replacements for the equivalents on Chandrayaan-2, which had crashed on landing in 2019.
The spacecraft was launched on July 14, 2023, at 14:35 IST from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, India. It entered lunar orbit on 5 August, and touched down near the lunar south pole, at 69°S,[12] on 23 August 2023 at 18:04 IST (12:33 UTC). With this landing, ISRO became the fourth national space agency to successfully land on the Moon, after the Soviet space program, NASA and CNSA, and the first national space agency to achieve a soft landing near the lunar south pole.[13]
The lander was not built to withstand the cold temperatures of the lunar night, so it was shut down at sunset over the landing site, twelve days after landing.[14][15] The orbiting propulsion module remained operational and was repurposed for scientific observations of Earth; it was shifted from lunar orbit to a high Earth orbit on 22 November 2023,[16] where it remains in service.[17]
- ^ "Chandrayaan-3 Landing Brochure" (PDF). ISRO. Retrieved 23 February 2025.
- ^ "Chandrayaan-3 vs Russia's Luna-25 | Which one is likely to win the space race". cnbctv18.com. 14 August 2023. Archived from the original on 16 August 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
- ^ "Chandrayaan-3". www.isro.gov.in. Archived from the original on 10 July 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
x.comwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c Jones, Andrew (23 August 2023). "Chandrayaan-3: India becomes fourth country to land on the moon". SpaceNews.com. Archived from the original on 23 August 2023. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
- ^ "Chandrayaan 3's landing site name 'Shiv Shakti' gets International Astronomical Union recognition". Hindustan Times. 24 March 2024. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
- ^ "LVM3-M4 Gallery". Indian Space Research Organisation. Archived from the original on 28 August 2023. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
- ^ a b "India launches Chandrayaan-3 mission to the lunar surface". Physicsworld. 14 July 2023. Archived from the original on 17 July 2023. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
- ^ @isro (2 September 2023). "Chandrayaan-3 Mission" (Tweet). Retrieved 2 September 2023 – via Twitter.
- ^ "India's Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander successfully 'hops' on the moon". Sky News. Archived from the original on 5 September 2023. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
- ^ Kumar, Hari; Travelli, Alex; Mashal, Mujib; Chang, Kenneth (23 August 2023). "India Moon Landing: In Latest Moon Race, India Lands First in Southern Polar Region". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 26 August 2023. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:5was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Kumar, Sanjay (23 August 2023). "India makes history by landing spacecraft near Moon's south pole in its first attempt, making it the first country to do so". Science.org. Archived from the original on 24 August 2023. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
- ^ "No 2nd innings, 'super over' for Chandrayaan-3, but Vikram & Pragyan had a great outing". The Times of India. 4 October 2023. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
- ^ "Chandrayaan-3 goes dark again? Former ISRO chief says 'no hope of reviving' Vikram lander & Pragyan rover". The Indian Express. 7 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
- ^ "Returns to home Earth: Chandrayaan-3 Propulsion Module moved from Lunar orbit to Earth's orbit". www.isro.gov.in. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:13was invoked but never defined (see the help page).