Chandrayaan: Mission to reach Moon
India’s first mission to the Moon (Chandrayaan-1) was launched on 22nd October 2008 followed by Chandrayaan-2 was launched in 2019. It was India’s first attempt to do a soft landing on the surface of the Moon. Though the mission’s lander crashed into the moon late in the landing process. ISRO has shared that the orbiter is still working and helping to study the Moon from a distance.
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. ISRO has planned to launch Chandrayaan-3, third mission to the Moon, in June 2023.
Chandrayaan-3
Chandrayaan-3 consists of an indigenous Lander module (LM), Propulsion module (PM) and a Rover with an objective of developing and demonstrating new technologies required for Inter planetary missions.
The Lander will have the capability to soft land at a specified lunar site and deploy the Rover which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility.
The Lander and the Rover have scientific payloads to carry out experiments on the lunar surface.
Apart from this, the Propulsion Module also has one scientific payload as a value addition which will be operated post separation of Lander Module. The launcher identified for Chandrayaan-3 is GSLV-Mk3.
GSLV MK3
GSLV Mk-III which is also known as LVM3 is the new heavy lift launch vehicle of ISRO for achieving a 4000 kg spacecraft launching capability to GTO (Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit) in a cost-effective manner.
LVM3 is a three-stage launch vehicle consisting of two solid propellant S200 strap-on and core stages comprising of L110 liquid stage, C25 cryogenic stage, the equipment bay (EB) and the Encapsulated assembly (EA).
With a lift-off mass of 640 tons, this 43.5 m tall three-stage launch vehicle gives ISRO full self-reliance in launching heavier communication satellites that weigh up to 4000 kg in GTO.
Hot Test of CE-20 Cryogenic Engine
The cryogenic upper stage of the LVM3 vehicle (C25 stage) is powered by a CE-20 engine working with the LOX-LH2 propellants combination. This engine develops a nominal thrust of 186.36 kN in vacuum.
The flight acceptance hot test of the CE-20 cryogenic engine that will power the Cryogenic Upper Stage of the LVM3 launch vehicle for the Chandrayaan-3 Mission was successfully conducted on February 24, 2023 at the ISRO Propulsion Complex, Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu.
The hot test was carried out for a planned duration of 25 seconds at the High-Altitude Test Facility. All the propulsion parameters during the test were found satisfactory and closely matched with predictions. The cryogenic engine will be further integrated with the propellant tanks, stage structures and associated fluid lines to realise the fully integrated flight cryogenic stage.
This flight acceptance hot test of the CE-20 cryogenic engine comes a day after the Chandrayaan-3 lander successfully completed the crucial EMI-EMC (Electromagnetic Interference/ Electromagnetic Compatibility) test at the U.R. Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru.
EMI-EMC (Electro – Magnetic Interference/ Electro – Magnetic Compatibility) test is conducted for satellite missions to ensure the functionality of the satellite subsystems in the space environment and their compatibility with the expected electromagnetic levels.
Indian Defense Analysis 