Daily News Analysis

India and Russia’s Moon missions

stylish_lining

 

 

Why in the News?

Russia has launched a mission to the moon name Luna-25 that could land on the moon days before Chandrayaan-3 in the Lunar South Pole, likely to take away the title of the first country soft -land close to the South Pole

 

Why is Russia reaching the moon earlier than India?

  1. Luna-25 was launched in Soyuz rocket almost a month after the launch of Chandrayaan-3.
  2. The reason for less time to cover the 3.84-lakh-km journey to lunar surface within days is because of a more direct trajectory followed towards the moon due to its lighter payload and more fuel storage.
    1. The lift-off mass for Luna 25 is just 1,750 kg while that of Chandrayaan-3 was 3,900 kg.
  3. Chandrayaan-3 followed a a more circuitous route to make up for the lower fuel reserve available on the LVM3 vehicle.
  4. Another reason for early landing of Luna-25 is because lunar dawn at its landing site will happen earlier compared to Chandrayaan-3 landing site.

 

 

 

Differences between Chandrayaan-3 and Luna-25:

 

Chandrayaan-3

Luna-25

1.

has a rover capable of moving around 500 metres

does not carry a rover

2.

Mission life is 14 days because it doesn’t have heating mechanism to keep the electronics safe from the extreme cold temperatures during the lunar night.

Mission life is 1 year because it has heating mechanism as well as a power source other than just solar panels.

3.

Follow a trajectory consisting of

  1. Earth-bound manoeuvres
  2. Lunar transfer trajectory
  3. Moon- bound manoeuvres

Follows nearly a direct directory to the moon.

4.

Lift-off mass is ~3900 kg

Lift-off mass is ~1750kg

 

 

 

About: Chandrayaan-3:

    1. The spacecraft has been launched to demonstrate
      1. An end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.
      2. New technologies required for Inter planetary missions.
      3. Conduct in-situ scientific experiments.
    2. Launcher: GSLV-Mk3 which will place the integrated module (PM, LM & RM) into the Elliptical parking Orbit (EPO)
    3. It consists of 3 indigenous modules
      1. Propulsion module (PM) – carries the Lunar Module from launch vehicle injection till final lunar 100 km circular Lunar orbit.
      2. Lander module (LM) – Rover is present inside the Lander.

Several Lander special tests carried out in earth conditions include:

          1. Integrated cold test
          2. Integrated Hot test
          3. Lander Leg Mechanism
      1. Rover Module (RM)

Payloads

Propulsion Module

1.

Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE)

Used to study the spectral and Polari-metric measurements of Earth from the moon’s orbit.

Lander Module

1.

Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE)

Measures the thermal properties of lunar surface near polar region.

2.

Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA)

Measures the seismic activities around the landing site

 

3.

Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA) & Langmuir Probe (LP)

Estimates the plasma density and its variations with time

4.

A passive Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) from NASA

Used for lunar laser ranging studies

Rover Module

1.

Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS)

 

Used for deriving the elemental composition of Lunar soil and rocks around the lunar landing site.

2.

Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS)

 

Source URL: Russia’s Luna 25 could land on the moon days before Chandrayaan-3: How the two missions compare

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