Though ISRO is yet to announce follow-up missions to the Moon, scientists have told The Indian Express that a sample return mission was the next logical step.
In a manoeuvre that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) never spoke about earlier, the lander module of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft successfully ‘hopped’ on the Moon’s surface and landed safely.
“Vikram Lander exceeded its mission objectives. It successfully underwent a hop experiment. On command, it fired the engines, elevated itself by about 40 cm as expected and landed safely at a distance of 30-40 cm away,” ISRO said in a statement.
Since the lunar landing was achieved on August 24, ISRO has been calling the lander module by its name ‘Vikram’ on social media. It used to refer to it just as the ‘lander module’ or LM earlier. Vikram was the name given to the lander module of Chandrayaan-2 that failed to make a soft-landing on the Moon in 2019. The rover component on that spacecraft was called ‘Pragyaan’. ISRO had not named the lander and rover on Chandrayaan-3. In all official documents on the ISRO website, these are referred to as the lander module (LM) and rover.
Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
🇮🇳Vikram soft-landed on 🌖, again!Vikram Lander exceeded its mission objectives. It successfully underwent a hop experiment.
On command, it fired the engines, elevated itself by about 40 cm as expected and landed safely at a distance of 30 – 40 cm away.… pic.twitter.com/T63t3MVUvI
— ISRO (@isro) September 4, 2023
ISRO had also never talked about the hop experiment to be conducted by the lander. What it means is that the lander was able to leave the lunar surface for a few seconds, and jump to a nearby location. This kind of manoeuvre is important in missions that involve the lander to return to Earth after completing its task. A sample return mission, in which the spacecraft brings back samples from the Moon, or a human landing mission would require the spacecraft to lift off from the lunar surface. Of course, in those cases, the thrust required to be given to the spacecraft would be much higher. But as a technology demonstration, the hop experiment is a significant way forward.
“This ‘kick-start’ enthuses future sample return and human missions!,” ISRO said.
Though the space agency is yet to announce follow-up missions to the Moon, scientists have told The Indian Express that a sample return mission was the next logical step. In fact, if Chandrayaan-2 had been successful, Chandrayaan-3 would have been a sample return mission. The Chinese Chang’e programme also progressed along similar lines. China sent an Orbiter in 2007 and then followed it up with a lander and sample return mission, the last one happening in 2020.
“All systems performed nominally and are healthy. Deployed ramp, ChaSTE and ILSA (instruments) were folded back and redeployed successfully after the experiment,” ISRO said.
The ramp was used for the rover to come out of the lander module and reach the lunar surface, while the ChaSTE and ILSA instruments had components touching the lunar surface to carry out their experiments. There are four instruments onboard the lander module and two on the rover.
Source:indianexpress.com