Vikram, Pragyan to return for another tryst with the moon

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Last Updated27/06/2023

Recently, ISRO Chairman had announced its plans to launch the third moon mission in mid-July aboard the LVM3 (formerly GSLV Mk-III) rocket from Sriharikota.

A propulsion module will carry the lander-rover configuration to a 100-km lunar orbit.
Once the ‘Vikram’ lander module makes it safely to the moon, it will deploy ‘Pragyan’ which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to retain the names of the Chandrayaan-2 lander and rover for their Chandrayaan-3 equivalents.
- This means, the Chandrayaan-3 lander will bear the name ‘Vikram’ (after Vikram Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space programme) and the rover, ‘Pragyan’.
Much to its disappointment, the ISRO had lost the Chandrayaan-2 lander-rover configuration and the payloads aboard them after ‘Vikram’ crashed on the lunar surface while attempting a soft landing.

The lander, rover and the propulsion module will have payloads for performing experiments to give new insights into the characteristics of earth’s lone natural satellite.
The lander will have four payloads -
- Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA)
- Chandra’s Surface Thermo physical Experiment (ChaSTE)
- Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA)
- The LASER Retroreflector Array (LRA).
The six-wheeled rover will have two payloads
- The Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS)
- The LASER Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS).
Also, there will be one payload on the propulsion module, the Spectro-polarimetry of HAbitable Planet Earth (SHAPE).

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