Chandrayaan-3 is India's third lunar mission, and it is scheduled to land on the lunar south pole today. The landing site is located at 70.9 degrees south latitude, 22.9 degrees east longitude. The lunar south pole is a region of the Moon that has not been extensively explored by previous missions. It is a cold, dark, and permanently shadowed region, which makes it ideal for studying the Moon's geology and potential for resources.
“The ISRO always tries to do different things on each mission. So, this is one aspect. The second aspect is the possibility of finding a fair amount of water. On the southern side of the Moon because of big craters there are quite deep and permanently shadowed areas will be there, and then there is a bombardment of comets and asteroids continuously happening on the land surface – these are kinds of celestial bodies and when they crash on the Moon surface, ice and missing particles are deposited. This has been happening last mission years,” ISRO's former group director Suresh Naik told HT.
“It is expected that there will be a lot of water in ice deposited there. Another factor is that power generation is possible because of its unique topography. On one hand, there is a large shadowed area and other the other hand, there are a lot of peaks. And these peaks are permanently under the sunlight. So, it is an advantageous position to establish a human colony in the near future – China is already thinking of establishing a human colony there by 2030. There are also so many precious minerals available on the Moon. One of the precious minerals is helium-3 which could help us generate pollution-free electricity,” he said.
Chandrayaan-3 is carrying a number of instruments to study the lunar south pole, including:
- A Terrain Imaging Camera (TMC) to map the surface of the landing site.
- A Laser Retroreflector Array (LRRR) to help with the navigation of future missions.
- A Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) to study the composition of the lunar surface.
- A Chandrayaan-3 Payload for Lunar Exploration (C3PEL) to study the lunar exosphere and polar regolith.
The successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 would be a major milestone for India's space program and would help to pave the way for future missions to the lunar south pole.
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