API VERSION: 1.2 API SOURCE: NASA/JPL Horizons API ****************************************************************************** Revised: 2023-Aug-23 Chandrayaan-3 Spacecraft Lander / (Moon) -158 https://www.isro.gov.in/Chandrayaan3_New.html https://www.isro.gov.in/media_isro/image/index/Chandrayaan3/ShivShakti_point.webp UPDATE: Lunar soft-landing 2023-Aug-23 @ 12:32 UTC at coordinates -69.373 deg. (S), 32.319 deg. (E), site named Shiv Shakti Point. PURPOSE The primary objective of ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 is to demonstrate the ability to soft-land and operate a robotic rover on the lunar surface. Scientific goals include studies of lunar topography, mineralogy, elemental abundance, the lunar exosphere, and signatures of hydroxyl and water ice. BACKGROUND Chandrayaan-3 was launched 2023-July-14 @ 09:05 UTC from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Sriharikota Island, India on a GSLV-MK3 rocket. The payload consists of a propulsion module, a lander (Vikram), and a rover (Pragyan). After launch into Earth parking orbit (170 x 36500 km altitude), a series of maneuvers will progressively raise the apogee of the spacecraft until a subsequent trans-lunar injection burn places the lander/rover into a 100 km circular lunar polar orbit. The lander will then touch down in the lunar south polar region, nominally 69.367621 deg. S, 32.348126 deg. E, with a velocity less than 2 m/s vertical and 0.5 m/s horizontal, slope <= 120 degrees. The prime landing site target zone is 4 x 2.4 km in dimension. The propulsion module will remain in lunar orbit to act as a communications relay between the lander and Earth. The lander and rover are designed to operate for one lunar daylight period, about 14 Earth days. SPACECRAFT DETAILS Launch mass : 3900 kg Lunar lander mass: 1752 kg (solar arrays ~ 738 W) Lander Propulsion : bi-propellant propulsion (MMH + MON3), 4 nos. of 800 N throttleable engines 8 nos. of 58 N Rover mass : 26 kg (solar arrays ~ 50 W) 6 wheels SCIENCE PAYLOADS Lander: Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive Ionosphere & Atmosphere (RAMBHA) Chandra's Surface Thermo physical Experiment (ChaSTE) Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA, from NASA) Propulsion module: Spectro-polarimetry of HAbitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) Rover: Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) Propulsion Module: TRAJECTORY: Post-launch trajectories from ISRO/JPLNAV for LANDER: Trajectory name Start (TDB) Stop (TDB) ---------------------------------------- ----------------- ----------------- ch3_spk_traj_history_od013_v1 2023-Jul-14 09:25 2023-Jul-20 10:11 ch3_traj_burn_od016_v1_EBN-4_f_v1 2023-Jul-20 10:11 2023-Jul-25 10:01 ch3_traj_od023_v1 2023-Jul-25 10:01 2023-Jul-31 22:01 ch3_traj_od025_v1 2023-Jul-31 22:01 2023-Aug-06 23:59 ch3_traj_burn_od028_v1 2023-Aug-03 12:01 2023-Aug-05 14:36 ch3_traj_burn_od030_v1 2023-Aug-05 14:36 2023-Aug-07 13:56 ch3_traj_od035_v1 2023-Aug-07 13:56 2023-Aug-09 11:36 ch3_traj_od037_v1 2023-Aug-09 11:36 2023-Aug-11 05:16 ch3_traj_burn_od040_v1_LBN-4 2023-Aug-11 05:16 2023-Aug-14 08:01 ch3_traj_burn_od044_v1_LBN-5 2023-Aug-14 08:01 2023-Aug-15 11:06 ch3_traj_od045_v1 2023-Aug-15 11:06 2023-Aug-16 03:49 ch3_traj_od047_v1 2023-Aug-16 03:41 2023-Aug-16 15:56 ch3_traj_od048_v1 2023-Aug-16 15:56 2023-Aug-17 12:01 ch3_traj_burn_od049_v1_DEOR-1_f 2023-Aug-17 12:01 2023-Aug-18 12:01 ch3_traj_burn_od052_v1_DEOR-2_f 2023-Aug-18 12:01 2023-Aug-18 23:36 ch3_traj_od053_v1 2023-Aug-18 23:36 2023-Aug-19 23:36 ch3_traj_od054_v1 2023-Aug-19 23:36 2023-Sep-06 12:35 ch3_traj_od056_v1 2023-Aug-20 14:11 2023-Aug-21 16:01 ch3_traj_od059_v1 2023-Aug-21 16:01 2023-Sep-06 12:31 *******************************************************************************