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Chandrayaan 3 - a curtain raiser by ISRO

We had a similar news In 2019 that China has landed on the far side of the moon for the first time in history and today India became the first nation to successfully land a spacecraft near the Moon’s South Pole.

Can someone please explain the difference between both the landings?
China did something amazing in my opinion. They landed on the far (dark) side of the moon. Then they had their orbiter at the L2 Lagrange point and communicated to the lander and rover using their orbiter as a relay station.

India landing at the Moon's south pole is an achievement in itself. Moon missions historically have been nearer to the Moon's equator. This mission is unique in that the orbital mechanics and power requirements for landing at the south pole are more challenging than landing closer to the equator.
 
We had a similar news In 2019 that China has landed on the far side of the moon for the first time in history and today India became the first nation to successfully land a spacecraft near the Moon’s South Pole.

Can someone please explain the difference between both the landings?
Here is a link with drawings for better understanding


Moon landings​

Before 2019, 20 spacecraft had successfully landed on the moon (some at the same site). This year, China’s Chang’e-4 became the first to visit the farside, and two other countries’ landers crashed.

moon map


In 2019 China landed Chang'e - 4, that is a very remarkable achievement on its own for sure.

The Vikram crash site if you notice, will give a better idea of where Chandrayaan 3 has landed. Both Chandrayaan 2 and 3 were aimed at same spot.

Basically everyone's trying to find water in ice form, and minerals of course. It is said this side of the moon has lot of deposits, but some proper findings have to be analyzed and then published.
 
Here is a link with drawings for better understanding


Moon landings​

Before 2019, 20 spacecraft had successfully landed on the moon (some at the same site). This year, China’s Chang’e-4 became the first to visit the farside, and two other countries’ landers crashed.

moon map


In 2019 China landed Chang'e - 4, that is a very remarkable achievement on its own for sure.

The Vikram crash site if you notice, will give a better idea of where Chandrayaan 3 has landed. Both Chandrayaan 2 and 3 were aimed at same spot.

Basically everyone's trying to find water in ice form, and minerals of course. It is said this side of the moon has lot of deposits, but some proper findings have to be analyzed and then published.
Thank you so much for this detailed reply.

China did something amazing in my opinion. They landed on the far (dark) side of the moon. Then they had their orbiter at the L2 Lagrange point and communicated to the lander and rover using their orbiter as a relay station.

India landing at the Moon's south pole is an achievement in itself. Moon missions historically have been nearer to the Moon's equator. This mission is unique in that the orbital mechanics and power requirements for landing at the south pole are more challenging than landing closer to the equator.
Thanks a lot for the response.
 
Not exclusively Indian brains. For instance, the technology that allows the Indian rover to navigate on the lunar surface is supplied by NASA.
Can you provide any source for this?

AS much as I searched for same, all I can find is that Vikram lander has a NASA instrument onboard called passive laser retroreflector array. Its aim is to study Moon's atmosphere mostly.

NASA on the other hand has certainly helped by providing telemetry through its DSN for sure, but don't think it has anything to do with Pragyan rover.
 
Can you provide any source for this?

AS much as I searched for same, all I can find is that Vikram lander has a NASA instrument onboard called passive laser retroreflector array. Its aim is to study Moon's atmosphere mostly.

NASA on the other hand has certainly helped by providing telemetry through its DSN for sure, but don't think it has anything to do with Pragyan rover.
LRA (Laser Retroreflector Array) is built by KBR a Houston firm for NASA it
provides the rover GPS positioning data so it can navigate on the lunar surface. It can also be used for laser data communication with earth.

Such centimeter level laser measurements will serve as an independent check on the spacecraft as it fixes its position using Galileo and GPS signals from an unprecedented 400,000 km. away from Earth — proving the concept of lunar satellite navigation (SATNAV) while also relaying telecommunications
 
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No one really believes this costed less than $100 million. ISRO official budget is roughly 1.5 billion usd. so last four years it used 6 billion usd. i dont see many launches.

The rover is just 25 kilos - almost same as it was in 2019. So ISRO took another 4 years to deliver almost exactly the same - therefore cost C-3 must include cost of C-2.
 
No one really believes this costed less than $100 million. ISRO official budget is roughly 1.5 billion usd. so last four years it used 6 billion usd. i dont see many launches.

The rover is just 25 kilos - almost same as it was in 2019. So ISRO took another 4 years to deliver almost exactly the same - therefore cost C-3 must include cost of C-2.
Lo ji, his *** is burning. Now he is questioning the costs. Lol.
 
Lo ji, his *** is burning. Now he is questioning the costs. Lol.
Putting a rover on moon in question of money and time. Dubai is doing it next year.

Indian govt should think whether this is best use of indian tax payer money. It is clear indian govt sees this as vanity project to give its upper caste some bragging rights. As most upper class indians are always desperate for it.
 
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