India is on the moon. The words Indian’s wanted to hear from the last 4 years, have become a reality now. Chandrayaan-3 has successfully landed on the moon and the whole world has congratulated India. But this is just half the story. Chandrayaan-3’s missions will help India to find alien worlds, These missions will guide us to make colonies on the moon, and India will help NASA in the future missions and all this will happen in the coming 14 days. If you have a friend who thinks why a poor country like India spends money on a moon mission, then please definitely share this post with them, They are going to be very jealous. As important as reaching the moon was, the missions to be done on the moon are even more important. What do Indian scientists want to do in these 14 days? Let me share you few points on that.
After landing, for 14 days or for one full lunar day, the Chandrayaan-3 mission will run. After 14 days, the lunar day will end and the lunar night will begin. The temperature will instantly drop up to from minus 130 degrees. India has not made provisions for surviving in such a low temperature. Plus, due to being solar powered and there being no other power source after 14 days, the Chandrayaan mission will get completed. But these 14 days are very important. Because there are different payloads on the Chandrayaan, Payload means apparatus Let’s understand about each payload. Let’s divide the whole project into 3 parts. Propulsion module which has 1 payload, Vikram lander which has 4 payloads, and Pragyan rover which has 2 payloads.
The Spectropolarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE)
The propulsion module is fitted with SHAPE, which means Spectropolarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth. It will observe the Earth instead of the moon. What are such qualities? What are the components which make our Earth habitable, due to which life is possible on Earth. This is what SHAPE wants to study. As of now, we have discovered more than 5,000 exoplanets but which of these exoplanets will have conditions where life can survive? and which exoplanets will not, how can we answer this by sitting so far away? Well, with the help of this instrument. SHAPE will help us to find habitable exoplanets. Planets where there can be aliens today, or which in the future can become our colonies. The planets which are many lightyears away from us, can’t be seen easily in a telescope But yes, we can surely study the light coming from those planets. The light we see is called the visible spectrum. But aside from that light there are different types of rays. When these rays interact with an object, then some rays get absorbed and some rays don’t. On this basis, we will first study how light rays coming from Earth appear. And in the future, we will try to study where the light rays similar to Earth are coming from. In simple language, this is the job of SHAPE. With this, we won’t exactly know which planet Alien resides on, but yes, we will know, in which direction we ought to try.
Vikram lander
Let’s move ahead towards the Vikram lander. Vikram lander’s name is in the memory of Father of Indian Space Program Vikram Sarabhai. Vikram’s first payload is ILSA, Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity. Just like Earth experiences earthquakes the moon experiences moon-quakes. Chandrayaan-3 not only wants to study the surface of the Moon, but also, wants to study the core of the Moon. And how will this happen? By studying seismic activity studying the lunar core is important to figure out which structures can be made there.
RAMBHA
RAMBHA, means Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive Ionosphere and Atmosphere. We all know about atmosphere. But there is a magnetosphere around the Earth which protects us from harmful radiation coming from the Sun. There is no such magnetosphere on the Moon. So it happens that charged particles of the Sun reach directly to the Moon. Due to solar radiation and the Moon surface, an ionosphere of charged particles is formed there. The ionosphere of the Moon when compared to the Earth is 1 million times less dense There is not much research available on this. So, RAMBHA will be an important step forward.
ChaSTE: Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment
If in future, we want to make a human colony on the moon, we will have to send humans there. We will have to make different structures and buildings there. And will have to also make a climate-controlled atmosphere inside it. It will have to be temperature controlled Because temperature on the moon’s surface fluctuates a lot. During the day, the temperature is very high and during the night, the temperature falls very low. If we can control the temperature, only then the building will have conditions where humans can stay alive for a longer time. So going on the moon and studying heat is important. This ChaSTE device will make a small hole on the surface of the Moon. Then the land in and around it, will be heated and then how heat impacts the moon will be studied. This heat has a lot of impact on another element and that is water.
LRA
LRA, laser reflectometer array. You must have heard about sonar. Submarines have a sonar device which sends sound waves in water. which helps to find water’s depth What happens is that submarines emit sound waves down towards the surface of the water and set a timer. Then it measures the time taken for those waves to come up after colliding with the surface below from that, we can know how deep the water is. LRA is a similar instrument. The interesting thing is that, this instrument is from NASA. They thought that if the Chandrayaan is anyway going to the Moon, then carry one of our instruments too. So LRA is a mirror which with the help of laser, which can accurately measure the distance between the moon and the Earth. This will help in making better calculations for future missions.
In the 1970s, during the Apollo program, NASA had placed such reflectometers on the Moon. But now the technology has improved Now America is going to launch its Artemis mission which will cost $93 billion, Here America, after almost 50 years, is going to send humans to the moon. The risks are quite high, So it is important to have accurate calculations and in this, ISRO is helping them. After Vikram lander, let’s talk about Pragyan rover.
Pragyan rover
This rover will explore only 0.5 km away from Vikram lander, but its work is also quite important. This is a solar powered rover which will communicate with Vikram and then the information from Vikram will reach here to the Earth. It has two payloads.
APXS, Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer
This is a kind of gun but not an ordinary gun, Radioactive gun. This will study the soil there and most importantly, what are the elements in the soil, this will be found out. This device will have a radioactive element called Curium. This will blast alpha particles and x-ray on the surface of the Moon and will be studied later. Focus will be in finding traces of magnesium, aluminum and iron.
LIBS, Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectrometer
This will study the soil of the moon with the help of light. Now these two payloads are important because if we want to make a structure on any other planet, it will take a lot of equipment. Will we take the materials for building these all the way from Earth? No way! The best idea is to see what materials are available in the soil there. Mine them and try to make something from them take as much less material possible from the Earth. If we want to become an interplanetary species, that means not only on one planet, if we have to make a base on different planets, then we have to adapt, by going to the surface of the new planet. Using new elements, we will have to make such structures that can support humans.
If your weight is 100 kg on the Earth, then it will be only 16 kg on the moon. Do you know what this means? You don’t need to diet, you need to become an astronaut 🙂 If we want to start big programs in space, then the moon can be our checkpoint. Better than launching big rockets from the moon, we can launch the rockets from the moon. The preparation of such ambitious plans of the future is starting with Chandrayaan-3. That is why Chandrayaan-3’s success is not only for India, but has value for the whole of humanity It is the beginning of a new era. Because India from the beginning had made it clear that our space program is for peace. India is the only country that is using the space not for weapons or profit, but for the benefit of the whole of humanity. Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, India follow this motto not only on Earth, but also in space. This is a proud thing for every Indian.
Now let’s think what would be the long-term impact of Chandrayaan-3. The biggest impact will be on the economy. India’s space sector is worth $8 billion today. Estimates say that by 2040, India space sector is going to be worth $40 billion. But these figures are before Chandrayaan-3’s success. It is possible that now this progress will catch speed. Where the global space sector is growing by only 2% per annum. India’s space sector is growing by 4% per annum. Plus, India is encouraging the startups of the space sector. In the coming 1-2 years, you will hear the stories of India’s SpaceX. Some of which are already doing a very good job. They are making water-based, eco-friendly engines. Making a map of all the space satellites and making space travel safer. I will soon share the stories of all these space startups with you.
The second impact will be on our space capabilities. Soft landing is very difficult which before India has been done by only 3 countries. Even Israel couldn’t soft land on the moon. India has soft landing capabilities and now India proved this. This is a matter of pride for India. This means in future human missions India will have a greater contribution. If we talk about geopolitics, then America will not launch any space project with Russia or China. Then who remains? India!
The third impact will be, helium-3 mining. The energy sources of the earth are running out. We will need alternative energy. Using helium-3, nuclear fusion can be a way to power Earth This helium-3 is very rare on the Earth but is abundantly available on the moon. Not only India, China, Russia, and America are also trying to tap this energy.
Chandrayaan is important because it will be impossible to ignore India in the space sector and Mars mission preparation, India’s data will be useful.
