PM Modi on Chandrayaan-3: Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the present day (December 6) congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for transferring the Propulsion Module of Chandrayaan-3 from the Moon’s orbit to the orbit of Earth. Reacting to the information by ISRO, PM Modi posted on his social media account X and mentioned, “Another technology milestone achieved in our future space endeavours including our goal to send an Indian to Moon by 2040.”
The Propulsion Module (PM) of Chandrayaan-3 has been moved from an orbit across the Moon to an orbit round Earth, ISRO has mentioned, terming the operation a singular experiment. The major goal of the Chandrayaan-3 mission was to show a smooth touchdown close to the lunar south polar area and carry out experiments utilizing the devices on the ‘Vikram’ lander and the ‘Pragyan’ rover.
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The spacecraft was launched on July 14, 2023, on board the LVM3-M4 car from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC-SHAR). On August 23, the Vikram lander made its historic landing on the Moon and subsequently, the Pragyan rover was deployed.
The scientific devices within the lander and rover had been operated repeatedly for one lunar day as per the outlined mission life. “The mission objectives of Chandrayaan-3 have been completely met,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) mentioned in an announcement.
For the Propulsion Module, the primary goal was to ferry the lander module from the Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) to the ultimate lunar polar round orbit and separate the lander, it mentioned. After the separation, the Spectro-polarimetry of HAbitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload within the PM was additionally operated, the house company mentioned.
The preliminary plan was to function this payload for about three months throughout the mission lifetime of the PM. The exact orbit injection by LVM3 and optimum earth or lunar burn manoeuvres resulted within the availability of over 100 kg of gasoline within the PM after over one month of operations within the lunar orbit, it added.
ISRO mentioned that it was determined to make use of the accessible gasoline within the PM to derive further data for future lunar missions and show the mission operation methods for a pattern return mission.
To proceed the SHAPE payload for earth commentary, it was determined to re-orbit the PM to an appropriate earth orbit. This mission plan was labored out contemplating collision avoidance equivalent to stopping the PM from crashing onto the Moon’s floor or coming into into the Earth’s Geosynchronous Equatorial Orbit (GEO) belt at 36,000 km and orbits under that, the assertion mentioned.
Considering the estimated gasoline availability and the security of the GEO spacecraft, the optimum earth return trajectory was designed for October 2023. The first maneuver was carried out on October 9, 2023, to boost apolune altitude to five,112 km from 150 km thus rising the interval of orbit from 2.1 hours to 7.2 hours. Later, contemplating the estimate of obtainable propellant, the second manoeuvre plan was revised to focus on an Earth orbit of 1.8 lakh x 3.8 lakh km.
The Trans-Earthinjection (TEI) maneuver was carried out on October 13, 2023. In the post-TEI manoeuvre realised orbit, the PM made 4 Moon fly-bys earlier than departing the sphere of affect (SOI) of the Moon on November 10. Currently, the PM is orbiting Earth and crossed its first perigee on November 22 with an altitude of 1.54 lakh km.
The orbit interval is almost 13 days with a 27-degree inclination. The perigee and apogee altitude fluctuate throughout its trajectory and the expected minimal perigee altitude is 1.15 lakh km, ISRO mentioned.
“Hence as per current orbit prediction, there is no threat of close approach with any operational Earth-orbiting satellites,” it mentioned.
As per the plan, the SHAPE payload is being operated each time Earth is in its subject of view. Also, a particular operation of the SHAPE payload was carried out on October 28, 2023, throughout a photo voltaic eclipse. The SHAPE payload operations will proceed additional, the assertion added.
(*3*) ISRO mentioned.
According to ISRO, the next are the primary outcomes of the return manoeuvres carried out on the PM associated to future missions: Planning and execution of trajectory and manoeuvres to return from the Moon to Earth; growth of a software program module to plan such a manoeuvre and its preliminary validation; planning and execution of a gravity-assisted fly-by throughout a planet or celestial physique; and avoiding uncontrolled crashing of the PM onto the Moon’s floor on the finish of lifetime of the PM thus assembly the necessities of no particles creation.
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