India’s Chandrayaan-3 satellite created history by landing the Vikram lander on the south pole of the Moon on Wednesday evening.
Vikram Lander had to soft land near the South Pole which happened very well. This is a huge achievement for India as well as for the whole world. The eyes of the whole world were fixed on Chandrayaan-3. With this success, India has become the first country to land on the south pole of the Moon. And has become the fourth country to make a soft landing on the moon. Earlier, Russia, China and America have done soft landing on the moon. But the work of all these was in the equatorial region. Vikram Lander has made a soft landing near the South Pole which is a matter of great pride for India.
How Vikram Lander landed on South Pole?
We are repeatedly using the word soft landing but this soft landing has not happened so smoothly. Vikram Lander is sitting on the surface of the moon at a speed of ten kilometers per hour. If it is released, it will fall at a very high speed, like the lander of Chandrayaan-2 crashed on the lunar surface. But Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram Lander was made in such a way that it would sit on the surface of the moon lovingly and later it could interact with the command center in Bengaluru. This is a huge and difficult task. Out of all the soft landings that have taken place in the world so far, only one out of two soft landings has been successful. Earlier, the lander of India’s Chandrayaan-2 had crashed. But after this Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram Lander landing on the moon is a big achievement. Vikram was named after Vikram Sarabhai, the father of space technology in India. In such a situation, it will be a very happy day for them too, wherever they are.
How did the speed of Vikram Lander decrease?
It was also a challenge to reduce the speed of Vikram Lander before landing on the lunar surface. For this, the Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-3 was placed in an orbit of 125×25 km, after which it was deorbited. After this, when it was sent towards the surface of the moon, its speed was more than 6000 kilometers per hour. After this, in a few minutes, when it was soft-landed on the surface of the moon, its speed was greatly reduced. In doing this, the support of four engines mounted on Vikram Lander was taken. After this, with the help of two engines, Vikram was landed on the surface of the moon.
Now how will Pragyan Rover come out?
Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram Lander has reached the Moon’s surface but now the wait is for its rover Pragyan to come out. But we will have to wait a bit to see Pragyan walk out of Vikram Land. The dust particles that have sprung up due to Vikram Lander sitting on the lunar surface will be given a chance to sit back on the ground or move away from Vikram in the next few hours. After this, a ramp will open from Vikram Lander, with the help of which Pragyan will start walking on the lunar surface. Pragyan Rover and Vikram Lander can talk to each other. The Vikram lander can talk to both Chandrayaan-2’s orbiter and the command center in Bangalore. After this the science work will start which will continue for 14 days. Both Vikram and Pragyan are powered by solar energy. They have been properly transported to the moonlit place. Because now there will be light for 14 days, then Pragyan and Vikram will be able to work. In some time the first pictures will come from the lunar surface in which Pragyan will take pictures of Vikram and Vikram will take pictures of Pragyan. These will be the first such pictures taken from the lunar surface. Vikram and Pragyan will work in an area of 4×2.5 kilometres, which I have named Kalam Vihar. Because it was the former President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam, who had said that India should place its flag on the surface of the Moon near the South Pole. In such a situation, this whole game of happiness is happening from Kalam Vihar only.
How do Pragyan and Vikram talk?
The medium of communication between Pragyan and Vikram is the radio webs. These are electromagnetic waves. They have been made in such a way that Pragyan can talk to his lander Vikram. Pragyan cannot talk directly to the command center in Bengaluru. But Vikram can directly talk to the command center in Bengaluru. However, there is no communication device in the propulsion module of Chandrayaan-3. In this whole process, it takes a quarter of a second for the message to come from the Moon to the Earth and this whole process is done in an automated manner.
Who was in control in the last minutes?
In the last few minutes when everyone was holding their breath, the computer did all the work. ISRO scientists had loaded all the commands. The computer executed all these commands properly so that Vikram Lander reached the lunar surface comfortably.
