Chandrayaan programme
The Chandrayaan programme (/ˌtʃʌndrəˈjɑːn/ CHUN-drə-YAHN) (Sanskrit: Candra 'Moon', Yāna 'Craft, Vehicle', )[4][5] also known as the Indian Lunar Exploration Programme is an ongoing series of outer space missions by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for the exploration of the Moon. The program incorporates a lunar orbiter, an impactor, a soft lander and a rover spacecraft.
Program overview
Active
2003–present[3]
Chandrayaan-1, 22 October 2008
Chandrayaan-3, 14 July 2023
2
1 (Chandrayaan-2)
- Satellites
- Uncrewed lander
- Rover
- Propulsion module
- Chandrayaan orbiters
- Vikram
- Pragyan
There have been three missions so far with a total of two orbiters, landers and rovers each. While the two orbiters were successful, the first lander and rover which were part of the Chandrayaan-2 mission, crashed on the surface. The second lander and rover mission Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the Moon on 23 August 2023, making India the first nation to successfully land a spacecraft in the lunar south pole region, and the fourth country to soft land on the Moon after the Soviet Union, the United States and China.
Background[edit]
The Indian space programme had begun with no intentions of undertaking sophisticated initiatives like human spaceflight and extraterrestrial missions during the initial days. It was only after ISRO developed the capabilities of creating satellites and orbital launch vehicles like PSLV, that the possibilities of India's first extraterrestrial exploration mission to the Moon were being explored in the early 2000s. The idea of a lunar scientific mission was first raised in 1999 during a meeting of the Indian Academy of Sciences (IAS) which was then carried forward by the Astronautical Society of India (ASI) in 2000.[6] The robotic exploration programme is intended as a precursor until Indian astronauts land on the Moon to carry forward further explorations, with the robotic programme planned to continue beyond crewed landings.[7]
History[edit]
First mission[edit]
Soon after the proposals by the Indian Academy of Sciences in 1999 and by the Astronautical Society of India in 2000, a National Lunar Mission Task Force (NLMTF) was set up which constituted ISRO and leading Indian scientists and technologists across the nation to conduct the feasibility study. The study report was then reviewed by a peer group of 100 scientists from various fields.[6] The recommendations put forward were as follows:
Images taken by Moon Impact Probe before performing a hard landing near the outer rim of Shackleton crater in the Lunar south pole region.
