Tag: chandrayaan 3

ISRO Successfully Launches Gaganyaan Test Flight Abort Mission

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman S Somanath on Saturday announced the success of the ‘TV-D1’ (Test Vehicle Development Flight 1) in the Gaganyaan Mission. The test vehicle was launched on the second attempt after it had faced an engine ignition problem at 8:45am IST. ISRO briefly aborted the launch of the first uncrewed test flight (TV-D1 Flight Test). Later, it said that the errors have been identified and corrected and the second launch was scheduled for 10:00am IST today. 

Addressing the media, ISRO Chairman S Somanath said, “I am very happy to announce the successful accomplishment of the TV-D1 mission. The purpose of this mission was to demonstrate the crew escape system for the Gaganyaan program through a test vehicle demonstration in which the vehicle went up to a Mach number, which is slightly above the speed of sound, and initiated an abort condition for the crew escape system to function.”

“The crew escape system took the crew module away from the vehicle, and subsequent operations, including the touch-down at sea, have been very well accomplished. and we have confirmation of the data for all of this,” he added. 

ISRO chief S Somanath congratulated scientists after the successful touchdown of the crew escape module. 

On the occasion, Mission Director S Sivakumar said, “This is like a never before attempt. It is like a bouquet of three experiments put together. We have now seen the characteristics of all three systems with what we wanted to test through this experiment or this mission. The test vehicle, the crew escape system, the crew module everything, we have perfectly demonstrated in the first attempt. All the systems performed well.”

“We had been at penance for the last 3 to 4 years and the D-day was today. We are very happy to be able to do it on the very first attempt,” he added. 

This Flight test vehicle Abort mission was conducted to demonstrate the performance of the Crew escape system as part of the Gaganyaan mission.

The mission objectives of the TV-D1 launch were Flight demonstration and evaluation of Test Vehicle subsystems; flight demonstration and evaluation of Crew Escape System including various separation systems; crew module characteristics; and deceleration system demonstration at higher altitudes and its recovery.

The Test Vehicle is a single-stage liquid rocket developed for this abort mission. The payloads consist of the Crew Module (CM) and Crew Escape Systems (CES) with their fast-acting solid motors, along with CM fairing (CMF) and Interface Adapters. This flight simulated the abort condition during the ascent trajectory corresponding to a Mach number of 1.2 encountered in the Gaganyaan mission.

This mission represents a significant milestone in India’s effort to demonstrate that it is possible to send humans into space.

The Gaganyaan project envisages a demonstration of human spaceflight capability by launching a crew of three members into an orbit of 400km for a 3-day mission and bringing them safely back to earth by landing in Indian waters.

This programme will make India the fourth nation to launch a manned spaceflight mission after the US, Russia, and China. Building on the success of the Indian space initiatives, including the recent Chandrayan-3 and Aditya L1 missions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed that India should now aim for new and ambitious goals, including setting up ‘Bharatiya Antariksha Station’ (Indian Space Station) by 2035 and sending the first Indian to the Moon by 2040.

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ISRO to Conduct Key Test for Gaganyaan Space Mission in October

India is set to conduct a key test in its ambitious crewed space mission Gaganyaan as early as next month, the project director of the mission R Hutton told Reuters.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is currently training four astronauts and looking to expand the cohort as it aims for more future manned missions, Hutton said.

The Gaganyaan mission is aimed at developing a human-habitable space capsule that will carry a three-member crew into an orbit of 400 km (250 miles) for three days, before returning to safety in a planned splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

ISRO has said it will explore ways to achieve a sustained human presence in space once Gaganyaan is completed.

The team is aiming to test its crew escape system, which can be used to eject astronauts in emergencies, before undertaking a battery of other tests before the final launch phase, Hutton said, adding: “Safety is the most important thing we need to ensure”.

About Rs. 90.23 billion has been allocated for the mission, which comes after the space agency’s historical landing of its Chandrayaan-3 craft on the lunar south pole. 

While an exact timeline has not been shared, the mission is expected to be launched from the country’s main spaceport in Sriharikota before 2024.

The space agency has previously said its Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre had successfully tested systems for stabilising the crew module and safely reducing its velocity during re-entry.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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ISRO Launches Aditya-L1, India’s Maiden Sun Study Mission, Aboard PSLV Rocket

Following the success of India’s moon landing, the country’s space agency ISRO launched a rocket on Saturday to study the sun in its first solar mission, Aditya-L1.

The rocket left a trail of smoke and fire as scientists clapped, a live broadcast on the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) website showed. 

The broadcast was watched by nearly 5,00,000 viewers, while thousands gathered at a viewing gallery near the launch site to see the lift-off of the probe, which will aim to study solar winds, which can cause disturbance on earth commonly seen as auroras.

Named after the Hindi word for the sun, the Aditya-L1 launch follows India beating Russia late last month to become the first country to land on the south pole of the moon. While Russia had a more powerful rocket, India’s Chandrayaan-3 out-endured the Luna-25 to execute a textbook landing.

The Aditya-L1 spacecraft is designed to travel about 1.5 million km over four months to a kind of parking lot in space where objects tend to stay put because of balancing gravitational forces, reducing fuel consumption for the spacecraft.

Those positions are called Lagrange Points, named after Italian-French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange. 

The mission has the capacity to make a “big bang in terms of science,” said Somak Raychaudhury, who was involved in the development of some components of the observatory, adding that energy particles emitted by the sun can hit satellites that control communications on earth. 

“There have been episodes when major communications have gone down because a satellite has been hit by a big corona emission. Satellites in low earth orbit are the main focus of global private players, which makes the Aditya L1 mission a very important project,” he said. 

Scientists hope to learn more about the effect of solar radiation on the thousands of satellites in orbit, a number growing with the success of ventures like the Starlink communications network of Elon Musk‘s SpaceX.

“The low earth orbit has been heavily polluted due to private participation, so understanding how to safeguard satellites there will have special importance in today’s space environment,” said Rama Rao Nidamanuri, head of the department of earth and space sciences at the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology.

Longer term, data from the mission could help better understand the sun’s impact on earth’s climate patterns and the origins of solar wind, the stream of particles that flow from the sun through the solar system, ISRO scientists have said.

Pushed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has privatised space launches and is looking to open the sector to foreign investment as it targets a five-fold increase in its share of the global launch market within the next decade.

As space turns into a global business, the country is also banking on the success of ISRO to showcase its prowess in the sector. 

© Thomson Reuters 2023 

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Chandrayaan-3’s ‘Pragyan’ Rover Records Natural Event on Moon’s South Pole

The Indian Space and Research Organisation on Thursday said that the Pragyan Rover module of the Vikram lander has recorded a natural event on the south pole of the moon. However, the detection of its source is underway. Taking to ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter), ISRO said, “Chandrayaan-3 Mission: In-situ Scientific Experiments Instrumenhttps://www.gadgets360.com/tags/moont for the Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) payload on Chandrayaan 3 Lander — the first Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology-based instrument on the moon — has recorded the movements of Rover and other payloads. Additionally, it has recorded an event, appearing to be a natural one, on August 26, 2023. The source of this event is under investigation”.

Earlier on Tuesday, in a post on ‘X’, ISRO said that the Rover has confirmed the presence of Sulphur on the moon. “Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) instrument onboard the Rover unambiguously confirms the presence of Sulphur (S) in the lunar surface near the south pole, through first-ever in-situ measurements. Al, Ca, Fe, Cr, Ti, Mn, Si, and O are also detected, as expected. Search for Hydrogen (H) is underway”, ISRO said.

Chandrayaan-3’s Rover ramped down from the Vikram lander to the lunar surface on August 25.
Chandrayaan-3 mission has three components- The propulsion module, which transferred the lander and the rover module to 100 kilometres of lunar orbit, the Lander module, which was responsible for the soft landing of the lunar craft and the Rover module, which is for exploring components on the moon.

India took a giant leap on August 23, as the Chandrayaan-3 lander module successfully landed on the moon’s South pole, making it the first country to have achieved the historic feat. The country became the fourth– after the US, China, and Russia – to have successfully landed on the moon’s surface.

Meanwhile, ISRO is all set to launch its solar mission, Adity-L1 on September 2. This is India’s first solar mission aiming to study the sun. 

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Chandrayaan-3’s Pragyan Rover Confirms Presence of Sulphur on Moon, Search for Hydrogen Underway: ISRO

The Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope instrument onboard ‘Pragyan‘ rover of Chandrayaan-3 has unambiguously confirmed the presence of sulphur on the lunar surface near south pole, through first-ever in-situ measurements, ISRO said on Tuesday. 

It also said the instrument also detected aluminium, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese, silicon and oxygen, as expected.

“The Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument onboard Chandrayaan-3 Rover has made the first-ever in-situ measurements on the elemental composition of the lunar surface near the south pole. These in-situ measurements confirm the presence of Sulphur (S) in the region unambiguously, something that was not feasible by the instruments onboard the orbiters,” the space agency said in a statement.

According to ISRO, LIBS is a scientific technique that analyses the composition of materials by exposing them to intense laser pulses.

“A high-energy laser pulse is focused onto the surface of a material, such as a rock or soil. The laser pulse generates an extremely hot and localised plasma. The collected plasma light is spectrally resolved and detected by detectors such as Charge Coupled Devices. Since each element emits a characteristic set of wavelengths of light when it’s in a plasma state, the elemental composition of the material is determined,” it said.

Preliminary analyses have unveiled the presence of Aluminum (Al), Sulphur (S), Calcium (Ca), Iron (Fe), Chromium (Cr), and Titanium (Ti) on the lunar surface. Further measurements have revealed the presence of manganese (Mn), silicon (Si), and oxygen (O), it said.

“Thorough investigation regarding the presence of Hydrogen is underway,” ISRO said.

LIBS instrument is developed at the Laboratory for Electro-Optics Systems at Peenya Industrial Estate, Bengaluru where the first India satellite was fabricated in 1975.

India on August 23 scripted history as ISRO’s ambitious third Moon mission Chandrayaan-3’s Lander Module (LM) touched down on the lunar surface, making it only the fourth country to accomplish the feat, and first to reach the uncharted south pole of Earth‘s only natural satellite.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced the decision to name the spot where Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander made soft landing as ‘Shiv Shakti Point’ and the site where the Chandrayaan-2 lander crash-landed on the Moon’s surface in 2019 would be known as “Tiranga Point”.

Also, August 23, the day the Chandrayaan-3 lander touched down on the lunar surface, would be celebrated as ‘National Space Day’, Modi had said.

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ISRO’s Aditya-L1 Solar Mission to Launch From Sriharikota Port on September 2

After the successful Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon, ISRO on Monday announced that India’s first solar mission Aditya-L1 to study the Sun will be launched on September 2 at 11.50 am from Sriharikota spaceport. 

Aditya-L1 spacecraft is designed to provide remote observations of the solar corona and in-situ observations of the solar wind at L1 (Sun-Earth Lagrange point), which is about 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth.

Lagrange Points are positions in space where the gravitational forces of the Sun and the Earth produce enhanced regions of attraction and repulsion. These can be used by spacecraft to reduce fuel consumption needed to remain in position, according to NASA. Lagrange points are named in honor of Italian-French mathematician Josephy-Louis Lagrange.

The Bengaluru-headquartered space agency said in a social media post that the spacecraft — the first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun — would be launched using a PSLV-C57 rocket.

The Aditya-L1 mission, aimed at studying the Sun from an orbit around the L1, would carry seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere and the corona — the outermost layers of the Sun — in different wavebands.

Aditya-L1 is a fully indigenous effort with the participation of national institutions, an ISRO official said.

The Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) is the lead institute for the development of Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) payload while Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune, has developed the Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT) payload for the mission.

According to ISRO, VELC aims to collect the data for solving how the temperature of the corona can reach about a million degrees while the Sun’s surface itself stays just over 6000 degrees Centigrade.

Aditya-L1 can provide observations on the corona, and on the solar chromosphere using the UV payload and on the flares using the X-ray payloads. The particle detectors and the magnetometer payload can provide information on charged particles and the magnetic field reaching the halo orbit around L1.

The satellite, developed by U R Rao Satellite Centre here, arrived at ISRO’s spaceport of Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, earlier this month.

It is planned to be placed in a halo orbit around the L1 point of the Sun-Earth system.

A satellite placed in the halo orbit around the L1 point has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any planets obstructing the view or causing eclipses, ISRO noted. “This will provide a greater advantage of observing the solar activities and its effect on space weather in real time,” it said.

Using the special vantage point L1, four payloads would directly view the Sun and the remaining three payloads are expected to carry out in-situ studies of particles and fields at the L1 point, thus providing important scientific studies of the propagatory effect of solar dynamics in the interplanetary medium.

“The SUITs of Aditya L1 payloads are expected to provide the most crucial information to understand the problem of coronal heating, coronal mass ejection (CME), pre-flare and flare activities and their characteristics, dynamics of space weather, propagation of particle and fields etc,” ISRO said.

The major science objectives of the Aditya-L1 mission are: study of solar upper atmospheric (chromosphere and corona) dynamics; study of chromospheric and coronal heating, physics of the partially ionised plasma, initiation of the coronal mass ejections, and flares; observe the in-situ particle and plasma environment providing data for the study of particle dynamics from the Sun; and physics of solar corona and its heating mechanism.

Besides, the mission aims to study diagnostics of the coronal and coronal loops plasma: temperature, velocity and density; development, dynamics and origin of CMEs; identify the sequence of processes that occur at multiple layers (chromosphere, base and extended corona) which eventually leads to solar eruptive events; magnetic field topology and magnetic field measurements in the solar corona; and drivers for space weather (origin, composition and dynamics of solar wind).

The instruments of Aditya-L1 are tuned to observe the solar atmosphere, mainly the chromosphere and corona. In-situ instruments will observe the local environment at the L1 point. 

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Watch: ISRO Releases Video of Chandrayaan-3’s ‘Pragyan’ Rover Rolling Down to Lunar Surface From Lander

ISRO on Friday released a breathtaking video of the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s rover ‘Pragyan‘ rolling down from the lander ‘Vikram’ to the lunar surface as observed by the lander imager camera. “… and here is how the Chandrayaan-3 Rover ramped down from the Lander to the Lunar surface”, said the message along with the video posted on ‘X’ by the national space agency.

ISRO also released the image of the lander taken by Chandrayaan-2’s Orbiter High-Resolution Camera (OHRC) after it soft-landed on the Moon’s surface.

“Chandrayaan-3 Mission update: I spy you! Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter photoshoots Chandrayaan-3 Lander! Chandrayaan-2’s Orbiter High-Resolution Camera (OHRC) — the camera with the best resolution anyone currently has around the moon — spots Chandrayaan-3 Lander after the landing on 23/2³/23,” read the ISRO post. 

Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter, launched in 2019, continues to orbit the Moon.

The Vikram lander with Pragyan rover in its belly touched down on the Moon’s surface “well within the area” identified for the purpose on Wednesday.

A few hours after the landing, the 26-kg six-wheeled rover rolled out from the lander’s belly.

ISRO said on Thursday evening: “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.” India on Wednesday scripted history as its third unmanned Moon mission’s lander module made a flawless soft-landing, making it only the fourth country to achieve this feat, and the first to reach the uncharted south pole of Earth’s only natural satellite. 

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Chandrayaan-3’s Pragyan Rover Begins Walk on Moon, Confirms ISRO

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday said that Pragyan Rover began its moonwalk on the lunar surface. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), ISRO said, “Chandrayaan-3 Mission. Chandrayaan-3 Rover to MOX, ISTRAC, Moon walk begins!”

Earlier today ISRO also released the images of the Lander Imager Camera which captured the moon’s image just before the touchdown on the lunar surface. 

“Here is how the Lander Imager Camera captured the moon’s image just prior to touchdown,” ISRO posted on X. 

After a 40-day journey into space, the Chandrayaan-3 lander, ‘Vikram’, touched down on the uncharted lunar South Pole on Wednesday evening, making India the first country to do so.

India also became only the fourth nation after the US, Russia and China to successfully conduct a lunar landing mission. The country has also become the first nation to make a soft landing on the south pole of the Moon.

The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft put down the Vikram lander on the lunar surface, tilting to a horizontal position ahead of landing.

The spacecraft was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota on July 14.

A GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle was used for the launch of the spacecraft that was placed in the lunar orbit on August 5 and since then, it went through a series of orbital manoeuvres before zeroing in on the moon’s surface.

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Chandrayaan-3 Lunar Landing Countdown Begins: When and Where to Watch the Live Streaming

Chandrayaan-3, India’s latest lunar mission, is expected to make a soft landing on the south pole of the moon on August 23. The spacecraft was launched by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on July 14. After completing a journey of almost 40 days, the Chandrayaan-3 mission will finally make India the fourth nation to land on moon with its successful landing on Wednesday. A day ahead of the expected landing, ISRO has confirmed that the mission is right on schedule and will be attempting landing as per planned.

India has high hopes from Chandrayaan-3 mission, especially after its partial success with the last lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2. As the countdown to Chandrayaan-3 landing begins, ISRO has already announced to livestream the historic event, which will begin at around 5:20 PM IST on August 23. The estimated landing time is expected to be 6:04 PM IST.

Chandrayaan-3 lunar landing: When and where to watch the live streaming

ISRO will be live streaming the lunar landing of Chandrayaan-3 on various social media channels. The event can be watched on ISRO’s official website, ISRO’s YouTube channel and the Facebook page of the organisation. The streaming will begin at 5:20 PM IST, around 30 minutes before the expected landing time.

Meanwhile, the live telecast of the landing will be available on DD National TV. Viewers can also watch the following space for the live streaming of the Chandrayaan-3 lunar landing. 

 

Chandrayaan- 3 was launched on July 14 at 2.35 PM IST onboard Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM-3) rocket from Sriharikota. If it successfully lands as planned tomorrow, India will become the first country to reach the uncharted south pole of Moon. 

ISRO officials earlier noted that the mission life of the Chandrayaan- 3 lander is one lunar day, which is equal to 14 Earth days. During the journey, ISRo has also released several pictures of the moon as captured by Chandrayaan-3.

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Chandrayaan-3 Lunar Touchdown May Postpone if Health Parameters of Lander Module Found Abnormal: ISRO Official

As scientists at ISRO gear up for the much-awaited soft landing of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the Moon‘s surface, the space agency may postpone the touchdown to August 27 in the event that health parameters of the lander module are found to be “abnormal”, a senior official has said. 

ISRO had planned the soft landing of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft at 06.04 pm IST on August 23.

The Moon mission was launched on July 14 at 2.35 PM IST from Sriharikota.

According to ISRO Space Applications Centre Director Nilesh Desai, the focus of the scientists would be on reducing the speed of the spacecraft above the lunar surface.

“The lander will try to land on the Moon’s surface from a height of 30km on August 23, and its velocity at that time will be 1.68 km per second. Our focus will be on reducing that speed because the Moon’s gravitational force will also play its part,” he told PTI in Ahmedabad.

“If we do not control that speed, there will be chances of a crash landing. If any health parameter (of the lander module) is found abnormal on August 23, then we will postpone the landing to August 27,” he said.

Responding to a query, Desai expressed hope that scientists would try to make the lander module land on the lunar surface successfully.

“The landing begins at 06.04 PM IST. Two hours before that, we will upload the commands. We will do an analysis of the telemetry signal and consider the conditions of the Moon. If any health parameter goes wrong, we will push it to August 27 and will try to land (on that day) if all goes well,” he said.

Observing that the final 17 minutes of the descent of the lander module are “very vital”, he said, “When we begin landing, four-engine thrusters will fire and reduce its speed.” “When the lander is at a height of 800m from the lunar surface, running on two engines, the speed will reach zero. From 800m to 150m, it (lander module) will descend vertically,” he said.

Data collected using the sensors on board the lander module will be very important and, on that basis, the landing site would be chosen, he said.

“We have sensors that would transmit exact information about the speed and distance of the lander from the Moon’s surface,” he said.

“Planning (safe-landing on the lunar surface) has been done keeping various scenarios in mind. We hope to land at 70 degrees latitude safely on the Moon’s South Pole on August 23,” he said.

To another query, he said,” A lot of upgrades have been made this time. Hardware systems are made robust. We will be successful (in soft landing on the lunar surface),” he said.

In case the mission shifts to August 27, he said, “we have chosen another landing site which is 400 km away from the main landing site.” Speaking about Russia’s Luna-25 mission that crash landed on the Moon, Desai said Moscow has a lot of resources and despite that, they failed.

“They were trying to proceed to the South Pole of the Moon. It is normal to be disappointed (since the mission failed). At ISRO, we have been working to make the Chandrayaan-3 mission a success for the past four years,” he said.

“The previous Chandrayaan-2 mission was a failure during soft landing. We have learned from our mistakes. (This time) we have made a lot of changes and added new sensors,” he said.

He said the scientists conducted a lot of field trials and carried out tests in various centres of ISRO.

“We are confident this time. We hope to succeed this time. People’s wishes are also with us.” he said.

Earlier in the day, ISRO said the mission is on schedule and it is smooth sailing for the spacecraft.

“The mission is on schedule. Systems are undergoing regular checks. Smooth sailing is continuing,” ISRO said.

Chandrayaan-3 lander module’s soft landing on the lunar surface would put India in the elite club of countries that have reached the Moon’s surface — the United States, the erstwhile Soviet Union and China.

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