India's Moon Lander Appears to Have Died

[CallSignMaverick]

Yes it that makes you happy. The Chinese lander had been operating for 9 years, Yutu2 had been roving for 4 years. I guess you need to improve on the quality of the electronics.

It was going to be our first attempt to land on the moon, since CY2 failed and we couldn't do it. Who knows in CY-4/LUPEX a heating unit would be involved.

 

[dbc]

It's not mistake but Calculated decision to letting go of the extra features in order to reduce weight and budget of the mission.

BS..
all you need is a Radioisotope Heater Unit (RHU), it’s the size of a pencil eraser and is just plutonium-238, no moving parts no electricity, a cheap and light weight solution to provide heat through radioactive decay. It’s what the Chinese used on their rover.
It is likely the Indian space agency could not get its hands on plutonium for the mission probably the India’s nuclear regulator didn’t trust the plutonium in the hand of civilians. just speculation on my part.

 

[vikan]

BS..
all you need is a Radioisotope Heater Unit (RHU), it’s the size of a pencil eraser and is just plutonium-238, no moving parts no electricity, a cheap and light weight solution to provide heat through radioactive decay. It’s what the Chinese used on their rover.
It is likely the Indian space agency could not get its hands on plutonium for the mission probably the India’s nuclear regulator didn’t trust the plutonium in the hand of civilians. just speculation on my part.

Not BS, from what i have read those radioisotope heater units cost in the millions, so a significant increase in project costs if they had taken that route.

 

[legacytiger18]

ye

The rover operated for only 10 days then died. Big mistake not equipping it with a heater. Anyway, still a big achievement to do a softlanding. Russians, Japs, Israelis failed. Americans might fail too, who knows, they have not done a softlanding on the moon for decades.

It was not mistake, by design , it was supposed to operate only for 10 days. They did not put heater to cut the costs

 

[dbc]

Not BS, from what i have read those radioisotope heater units cost in the millions, so a significant increase in project costs if they had taken that route.

It costs 17k USD a gram , hardly millions that you claim.

 

[Han Patriot]

Did India land spacecraft near moon’s south pole? Top China scientist says not

Chinese lunar scientist disputes the claim, saying site was within moon’s southern hemisphere but not in the polar region. Others agree, but one notes that landing a rover close the south pole ‘is already a major achievement’.

www.scmp.com

Chandrayaan-3 did not land at the South Pole. It is off even by NASA definition. South pole landing is extremely risky.

 

[vikan]

It costs 17k USD a gram , hardly millions that you claim.

Right, because the only cost is the purchase cost, dont count the design cost, and more importantly the costs to send it to the moon. These RHU can weight several kilograms, and the cost to send that weight alone will run into millions.

Did India land spacecraft near moon’s south pole? Top China scientist says not

Chinese lunar scientist disputes the claim, saying site was within moon’s southern hemisphere but not in the polar region. Others agree, but one notes that landing a rover close the south pole ‘is already a major achievement’.

www.scmp.com

Chandrayaan-3 did not land at the South Pole. It is off even by NASA definition. South pole landing is extremely risky.

View attachment 956429

Subscription article, dont know what the rest of the article says. Anyways, its always been "near lunar south pole" not south pole. That matter was always clarified.

 

[dbc]

Right, because the only cost is the purchase cost, dont count the design cost, and more importantly the costs to send it to the moon.

You don’t have to make it, NASA purchased plutonium-238 from the Russians until recently before the ORL production facility came online. I’m sure India has a stockpile of materials to synthesize plutonium-238 from its nuclear weapons program.

 

[Skull and Bones]

It costs 17k USD a gram , hardly millions that you claim.

There has to be a critical mass for the Plutonium to generate enough heat for the thermoelectric generators to generate the required EMF. And add that critical mass to the launch weight of the system.

 

[dbc]

There has to be a critical mass for the Plutonium to generate enough heat for the thermoelectric generators to generate the required EMF. And add that critical mass to the launch weight of the system.

The voyager had 10.5 lbs or 4.8 kilograms onboard to generate electricity, thrust as well as heat. For just heat, you need about seven pellets that’s perhaps around 0.44 pounds or 200 grams in total.

The voyager is still voyaging currently out of our solar system and still calling home.

 

[Skull and Bones]

The voyager had 10.5 lbs or 4.8 kilograms onboard to generate electricity, thrust as well as heat. For just heat, you need about seven pellets that’s perhaps around 0.44 pounds or 200 grams in total.

The voyager is still voyaging currently out of our solar system and still calling home.

There has to be volumetric dependence of the rover/lander on the plutonium amount required.

 

[vikan]

You don’t have to make it, NASA purchased plutonium-238 from the Russians until recently before the ORL production facility came online. I’m sure India has a stockpile of materials to synthesize plutonium-238 from its nuclear weapons program.

Its the associated costs that most likely prevented them putting it on the rover, the cost to send it to the moon coupled with this being a mix of a technology demonstrator and experimental rover, there was probably not enough justification for added costs coming from putting on the unit.