Page 2 - Chandrayaan-3

Moon's surface once a magma ocean, suggests Isro's Chandrayaan-3 data

Data from ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 mission supports the theory that the Moon was once covered in an ocean of magma, or a 'magma ocean', an analysis, published in the journal Nature, has suggested. The analysis pertained to measurements of the lunar soil, recorded by the Pragyan rover and taken at multiple points along a 100-metre track on the surface. The rover was deployed by the Vikram lander, which made a soft landing near the south pole of the Moon on August 23, 2023. Chandrayaan-3, consisting of the lander and rover, was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Bengaluru. The study's authors, including those from the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, said that previous missions, such as NASA's Apollo and the Soviet Union's Luna, have mainly relied on samples of soil taken from equitorial and mid-latitude regions of the Moon, respectively. Analysing Pragyan's data, which came from the Moon's south pole, the researchers found that the samples suggested that

Biochemist Govindarajan Padmanabhan to be awarded 1st Vigyan Ratna award

Celebrated biochemist Govindarajan Padmanabhan has been selected for first Vigyan Ratna Puraskar, the top most science award instituted by the government this year. The government on Wednesday announced 33 Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskars, which include 18 Vigyan Yuva Puraskars for young scientists and 13 Vigyan Shri Puraskars and a Vigyan Team award that went to Team Chandrayaan-3. Earlier this year, the government had instituted the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar recognizing outstanding and inspiring scientific, technological and innovation contributions of researchers, technologists and innovators in the field of science, technology and innovation. The Vigyan Shri awardees are astrophysicist Annapurini Subramanian, agriculture scientist Anandharamakrishnan C, Avesh Kumar Tyagi (Atomic Energy), Prof. Umesh Varshney and Prof. Jayant Bhalchandra Udgaonkar (both in the field of Biological Sciences), Prof. Syed Wajih Ahmad Naqvi (Earth Sciences), Prof. Bhim Singh (Engineering Sciences), Prof. ..

Chandrayaan-3 success encourages startups for space sector: Nambi Narayanan

The historic success of ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon has captured the attention of several startups to tap the Indian space sector, said former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan. Tamil Nadu Minister for Industries TRB Rajaa said the achievements of space scientists and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) should be celebrated. Rajaa and former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan took part in the launch of space technology accelerator "Vaanam" (Tamil word meaning sky) backed by its co-founders Sameer Bharat Ram and Hariharan Vedamurthy, on Wednesday. The space tech aims to nurture startups in the space sector by offering its expertise including seed fundings among others. "We are evaluating about 6 startups this year (to offer its expertise)", Ram said. According to him, the Indian space economy pegged at USD 13 billion is expected to touch USD 44 billion in 10 years. Ram said Nambi Narayanan and actor Madhavan, who played the role of Narayanan himself, in the multilingua

Dry moon theory challenged as China finds traces of water in moon's soil

The lunar soil brought back by China's Chang'e-5 mission in 2020 has led to the discovery of a hydrated mineral containing molecular water

Chandrayaan's rover makes significant discoveries on Moon's south pole

The Chandrayaan-3 mission's Pragyan rover found small rock fragments scattered around the rim, wall slopes, and floor of small craters in the southern high-latitude landing area

India landing on moon, while children die in Karachi gutters: Pak leader

National Assembly member Syed Mustafa Kamal brought attention to the lack of educational facilities for children in the country, comparing it to India's achievements

Chandrayaan-3 mission receives prestigious US Space Exploration award

India's Chandrayaan-3 mission team was honoured with the prestigious 2024 John L. 'Jack' Swigert Jr. Award for Space Exploration

Chandrayaan-3 linked Kaynes Tech's founder joins Forbes' billionaires list

Ramesh Kunhikannan is among the 25 Indians who made a debut on the Forbes World's Billionaires list of 2024. His Kaynes Technology had supplied electronic systems for the mission

Isro to test reusable space launch vehicle 'Pushpak' in Karnataka today

Isro says RLV-TD will be scaled up to become the first stage of India's reusable two-stage orbital launch vehicle

Diagnosed with cancer on day of Aditya L1 launch, cured now: Isro chief

ISRO chairman S Somanath has revealed that he learnt about being diagnosed with cancer on the day of the launch of India's Aditya L1 mission. In an interview with Tarmak Media House, Somanath said he underwent an operation to remove the growth in his stomach, followed it up with chemotherapy and was now completely cured of the disease. "Undoubtedly, they would have been shocked. But now, I perceive cancer and its treatment as a solution. There is a message that it is not incurable," he said when asked about the reaction of his family members to the diagnosis. He said he had realized that there were some health issues during the launch of the Chandrayaan-3 mission but was not very clear about it. "I was uncertain about a complete cure at the time, I was undergoing the process," he admitted, highlighting the ongoing nature of his battle against cancer. Somanath said he would be undergoing regular checkups and scans, but he was now completely cured and has resumed duties. "No, I do

America's Odysseus spacecraft makes 1st commercial moon landing in history

Notably, this landing comes months after India's Chandrayaan-3 lander, which became the first spacecraft from the country to safely reach the lunar surface in August 2023

From Mangalyaan-2 to Shukrayaan-1, here's what Isro is planning in 2024

After the success of Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya L1 in 2023, Isro has a lot planned in 2024. Here's a look at the upcoming mission

India's ambitious plans on space station on track: Chandrayaan-3 director

India's ambitious plans to have its own space station by 2035 and have an Indian astronaut on the moon by 2040 are progressing on track, Project Director of ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 mission, P Veeramuthuvel said on Saturday. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ISRO chairman have already said that by 2040 we should have an Indian astronaut on the moon and also to have our space station by 2035. These are very ambitious plans that ISRO has taken up and we are working towards that, he told PTI here. On ISRO's success in bringing back the Propulsion Module (PM) of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft to Earth's orbit, Veeramuthuvel said, as far as Chandrayaan-3 is concerned, the lander and rover mission successfully completed one lunar day. We successfully completed the hop on experiment wherein we used the same engine where we landed and again we operated the payload for one earth day, the ISRO scientist added. The propulsion module which was supposed to orbit around the moon met all the mission ..

Female Robot 'Vyommitra' to be launched before Isro's 'Gaganyaan' mission

Woman Robot Astronaut 'Vyommitra' will fly into space ahead of ISRO's ambitious 'Gaganyaan' mission, which will be India's first human-manned space flight carrying Indian astronauts into space

Chandrayaan-3, Aditya L-1 get prominence in Isro's R-Day tableau

The landing of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft near the south pole of the Moon and the Aditya L-1 mission to study the Sun found a prominent place in ISRO's tableau in the Republic Day parade on Friday. The tableau also showcased the participation of women scientists in various missions of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which is now planning to carry out India's maiden human space flight next year. The tableau had a model of the Launch Vehicle Mark-3 that took Chandrayaan-3 to the Moon from Sriharikota. The lunar landing site of the spacecraft which was named Shiv Shakti Point by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also featured. The tableau illustrated the successful Aditya L-1 mission to study the Sun as well as future missions such as Gaganyaan and Bhartiya Antariksh Station among others. Also depicted on the tableau are ancient astronomers and space pioneers such as Aryabhatta and Varahamihir.

Isro's R-Day tableau showcases Chandrayaan-3, UP highlights Lord Ram

Among other feats, India now aims for are the Gaganyaan Mission in 2024-2025, setting up 'Bharatiya Antariksha Station' by 2035, and sending the first Indian to the Moon by 2040

Nasa spacecraft successfully 'pings' Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander on Moon

Laser instrument onboard a NASA spacecraft orbiting the Moon has successfully pinged the Vikram lander of India's Chandrayaan-3 mission, the US space agency said. The laser beam was transmitted and reflected between the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and an Oreo-sized device on Vikram lander, opening the door to a new style of precisely locating targets on the Moon's surface, NASA said. The lander was 100 kilometers away from LRO, near Manzinus crater in the Moon's south pole region, when LRO transmitted laser pulses toward it on December 12 last year. After the orbiter registered light that had bounced back from a tiny NASA retroreflector aboard Vikram, NASA scientists knew their technique had finally worked. Sending laser pulses towards an object and measuring how long it takes the light to bounce back is a commonly used way to track the locations of Earth-orbiting satellites from the ground. However, using the technique in reverseto send laser pulses from a moving spacecraf

Chandrayaan-3 lander serving as location marker near lunar south pole

An instrument on Chandrayaan-3 lander has started serving as a location marker near the lunar south pole, the ISRO said on Friday. The Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) on the Chandrayaan-3 lander has begun serving as a fiducial point (precisely located markers for reference) on the Moon, the national space agency headquartered here said in a statement. US space agency NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) achieved a laser range measurement using the LRA by successfully detecting signals reflected by it on December 12, 2023, it said. "The ranging utilised the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) on the LRO. The observation occurred during lunar night time, with the LRO ascending to the east of Chandrayaan-3," ISRO said. NASA's LRA was accommodated on the Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander under international collaboration. It comprises eight corner-cube retroreflectors on a hemispherical support structure. This array facilitates lasers ranging from various directions by any orbiting .

China says it will launch its next lunar explorer in the first half of 2024

China's space agency said on Wednesday that its latest lunar explorer had arrived at the launch site in preparation for a mission to the moon in the first half of this year. State broadcaster CCTV posted photos on its website of the unit under wraps as it was unloaded from a large cargo airplane earlier this week and then transported by flatbed truck to the Wenchang launch site on southern China's Hainan island. The announcement came a day after a US company abandoned a lunar landing planned for February 23 because of a fuel leak that started soon after takeoff on Monday. China and the US are both pursuing plans to land astronauts on the moon in what has become a growing rivalry in space. The US plans to do so in 2026, and China's target date is before 2030. The China National Space Administration said that pre-launch tests would be carried out on its Chang'e-6 probe. The mission's goals include bringing back samples from the far side of the moon. Another US moon lander from a Hou

Gaganyaan mission: Isro to carry out final launch in 2025, says MoS Singh

Stating that 2024 is "very important" for the 'Gaganyaan', Singh said that multiple tests will be carried out to achieve the objectives of the mission