The Chandrayaan-3 mission is a lunar-exploration spacecraft and a technological demonstration developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), forming the third mission in the Chandrayaan programme. It was launched on July 14, 2023, at 14:35 IST from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota, with the primary objective of achieving a safe and soft landing on the Moon. This mission was a direct follow-on to Chandrayaan-2 (launched in 2019), which had a successful orbiter but failed to achieve a soft landing.
The spacecraft comprises three main components: a Propulsion Module (PM), a Lander Module (LM) named Vikram, and a Rover named Pragyan. The PM carried the lander and rover from the launch vehicle injection to a 100 km circular polar lunar orbit. The PM also carried the Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload to study Earth from lunar orbit. The Vikram lander successfully soft-landed near the lunar south pole on August 23, 2023, at 18:04 IST, making India the fourth country to achieve this feat.
The mechanism for the soft landing involved advanced technologies like Laser and RF-based Altimeters, Laser Doppler Velocimeters, and a Lander Hazard Detection & Avoidance Camera to ensure a precise touchdown. After landing, the Pragyan rover was deployed to carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface for approximately 14 Earth days (one lunar day). The rover's payloads, including the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS), were used to derive the elemental composition of the lunar soil and rocks. The mission connects to the legacy of Chandrayaan-1 (launched in 2008), which confirmed the presence of water on the Moon, and the Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter, which was planned for contingency communication. The mission design was simplified from its predecessor by not including a dedicated orbiter, focusing instead on the lander and rover components.