We are back with another Chandrayaan-3 Update. NASA has announced that the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter aka LCO has detected the Chandrayaan-3 Shiv Shakti Point on the Moon’s surface. The space agency also published images, which reveal the area where the Vikram Lander had probably soft landed on August 23. NASA revealed that the Chandrayaan-3 landing site is located about 600 kilometers from the Moon’s South Pole.
.@NASA‘s LRO spacecraft recently imaged the Chandrayaan-3 lander on the Moon’s surface.
The ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) Chandrayaan-3 touched down on Aug. 23, 2023, about 600 kilometers from the Moon’s South Pole.
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— NASA Marshall (@NASA_Marshall) September 5, 2023
The LRO Camera or LROC had acquired a 42-degree slew angle of the lander after four days of landing. NASA terms it as oblique view. The bright halo around the vehicle resulted from the rocket plume interacted with the fine-grained regolith soil.
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The next Chandrayaan-3 Update is that the Vikram Lander located at the Shiv Shakti Point is currently on sleep mode after completing a hop experiment. The Government-controlled space agency revealed that the Vikram Lander entered sleep mode at 08.00 Hrs IST. The lander conducted various in-situ experiments via ChaSTE, RAMBHA-LP, and ILSA payloads at the new location, which is 40 cm from the original landing position. While the payloads were switched off, the Lander receivers remain in an active state.
The Vikram Lander and the Pragyan Rover will be in a dormant status until their solar power is depleted and the batteries are completely drained. ISRO will make an attempt to awaken them on September 22, 2023. Before putting the lander to sleep, ISRO also attempted to soft land Vikram Lander again by raising it to 40cm via hop experiment and making it land 40cm from the original spot. This interesting experiment will pave way for future lunar sample return missions and manned moon missions.
ISRO revealed that the Pragyan Rover has been safely parked and the batteries were fully charged. The solar panel has been oriented to receive sunlight at the next sunrise on September 22. However, it depends on a large number of factors. However, the team is hopeful that they will be able to awaken the Rover to enable it to perform several tasks. If the Pragyan Rover is unable to work, then it will remain as India’s lunar ambassador.
As of this writing, Pragyan Rover has traversed over 100 meters with a maximum range of 500 meters from the Vikram Lander. The LIBS detected the presence of Sulphur. The RAMBHA-LP conducted lunar plasma experiments. The ILSA also recorded rover movements and an event of natural origin. The ChaSTE instrument measured temperature profiles of the lunar topsoil around the pole. The APXS instrument confirmed the presence of Sulphur using a different technique.
LRO is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The LRO was launched on June 18, 2009, to collect a treasure trove of data with its seven powerful instruments. The Orbiter had made an invaluable contribution to the ultimate knowledge about the Moon. LROC is managed and operated by Arizona State University.
