2024-04-06 05:50:20
India’s Chandrayaan created history by making a soft landing on the lunar surface. At the time of soft landing, Indian lander Vikram raised a cloud of dust up to a height of 28-39 feet. The special thing is that this height of the dust cloud is less than one-fifth of other moon landings. Clean landing is important for better sample collection.
highlights
- ISRO‘s mission Chandrayaan-3 made a soft landing on August 23.
- ISRO scientists presented new research paper in America
- Many important information related to landing at South Pole revealed
New Delhi : India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission created history with an incredibly soft landing on August 23, 2023. A new paper presented by ISRO scientists at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas last month shows that despite the powerful engines required for the landing, the lander kicked up minimal moon dust. This study was done by Amitabh, K Suresh, Kannan V Iyer, Ajay K Parashar, Shweta Verma and Abdullah Suhail. From ISRO’s Space Applications Centre. Chandrayaan-3, which created so much noise on Earth, barely kicked up dust on the Moon. This dust has important implications for future lunar exploration missions.
the art of soft landing
Landing on the surface of the Moon is no easy task. Powerful engines must be fired to slow the spacecraft and descend in a controlled manner. However, this engine exhaust can interact with the lunar surface, blowing up plumes of dust and debris. It can be spread around the landing site. Previous lunar landing missions, such as the famous Apollo missions and China’s Chang’e-3, raised clouds of dust up to 60 meters (about 200 feet) high. Such huge dust clouds could potentially damage sensitive equipment. Can also obscure the view of the landing site. They can even contaminate scientific samples collected by rovers or astronauts.
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minimal dust impact
Chandrayaan-3’s lander Vikram raised a dust cloud of only 8.7–12 meters (28–39 ft). This is visible from the pictures taken from the cameras installed on the lander, orbiter (from Chandrayaan-2) and rover Pragyan. Furthermore, the area affected by the dust spill was relatively small, covering only 145 square meters (about 1,560 square feet). It extended approximately 17 meters (56 ft) in one direction and 14 meters (46 ft) in the other direction. The soft touchdown demonstrated that the lander’s design and engine configuration were optimized for minimal contact between the engine plume and the lunar surface. Chandrayaan-3’s achievement is likely due to a combination of several factors. These include the lightweight design of the lander, precise control of engine thrust, and the specific properties of the lunar soil at the landing site.
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Sent 835 photos in real time mode
Lander Vikram landed at a point between the ‘Manzinus-U’ and ‘Boguslavsky-M’ craters in the southern hemisphere of the Moon. It was later named ‘Shiv Shakti’ by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Its Lander Imager (LI) captured a total of 835 images in near real-time mode and sent them to Earth. This provided important information into the landing process and the lunar surface environment. During landing, all four engines of Chandrayaan-3 started firing. The deceleration worked out to an altitude of about 30 km and the lander hovered for the first time at an altitude of 800 m. After that, only the two diagonal engines were kept running until touchdown. When four sensors in the lander’s footpads indicated touchdown, in combination with an accelerometer reading of zero, the engines were shut down within 30 milliseconds. This ensured a light and controlled landing of the lander on the lunar surface.
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path to design improvement
Minimal disturbance of moon dust has important implications for future lunar exploration missions. This shows the possibility of landing spacecraft on the Moon with minimal environmental impact. It also preserves the pristine nature of the Moon’s surface for scientific study. Also reduces the risk of damage to sensitive equipment. Furthermore, understanding the mechanisms behind this reduced dust disturbance could also help engineers design more efficient and environmentally conscious landers and rovers for future missions.
About Anil Kumar
Anil KumarAnil has been active in the media industry for more than a decade. The journey that started with reporting from Dainik Jagran Chandigarh in 2009, has reached NavbharatTimes.com via Dainik Bhaskar, Rajasthan Patrika, Amar Ujala, Jansatta.com. He is originally from Bihar but completed his education from Delhi. Along with sports and education reporting, he also has experience of working at the central desk. Has special interest in politics, sports as well as foreign news… Read More
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