Space Part-3

Chandrayaan-3 is the third mission in the Chandrayaan programme, a series of lunar-exploration missions developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. It consists of Lander and Rover configuration. The mission consists of Vikram lander and Pragyan lunar rover similar to those launched aboard Chandrayaan-2 in 2019, as well as a propulsion module that carried the spacecraft from Earth orbit to lunar orbit. It was launched by LVM3-M4 from SDSC, SHAR, Sriharikota on 14 July, 2023. The spacecraft entered lunar orbit on 5 August, 2023 and became the 1st lander to touch down near the lunar south pole on 23 August, 2023 making India the fourth country to successfully land on the Moon. Hence, both statements are correct.

Chandrayaan-3 rover ‘Pragyan’ has two payloads: Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS). Among them, APXS was used to determine the elemental composition (Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, Fe) of lunar soil and rocks around the lunar landing site, while LIBS was used for qualitative and quantitative elemental analysis and to derive the chemical composition and infer mineralogical composition to further our understanding of lunar surface.

Moon Express is the world’s first private flight plan to go to the moon. Implemented from 2017 this plan was granted assent by Federal Aviation Administration on August 3, 2016.

Luna-25 was a failed Russian lunar lander mission by Russian space agency Roscosmos, in August, 2023 that planned to land near the lunar south pole. Luna-25 was the first in a series of Russian missions planned as part of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), a project initiated by China and Russia to build a base at the lunar south pole by the mid-2030s with the aim of using the rich water-ice resources there for long-term exploration and settlement. Russia and China together are leading ILRS against the U.S. led Artemis Accords. The Artemis Accords is a series of non-binding bilateral arrangements between the United States government and other world governments that elaborates on the norms expected to be followed in outer space. The accords are related to the Artemis program, an American-led effort to return humans to the Moon by 2026, with the ultimate goal of expanding space exploration to Mars and beyond. Hence, both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).

On 2 September, 2023, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C57) successfully launched the Aditya-L1 spacecraft from the Second Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota. Aditya-L1 is the first Indian space-based observatory to study the Sun from a halo orbit around the first Sun-Earth Lagrangian point (L1), which is located roughly 1.5 million km from Earth. Aditya-L1 carries seven scientific payloads indigenously developed by ISRO and international research laboratories including Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru and Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune. On 6 January, 2024, Aditya-L1 was successfully injected into the Halo orbit of Lagrange point L1. It will study the solar atmosphere, solar magnetic storms, and their impact on the environment and the Earth.

The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), or Mangalyaan was a space probe orbiting Mars since 24 September, 2014. It was launched on 5 November, 2013 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was India's first interplanetary mission and made ISRO the fourth space agency to achieve Mars orbit, after Roscosmos, NASA, and the European Space Agency. It made India the first Asian nation to reach the Martian orbit and the first nation in the world to do so on its maiden attempt.