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Chandrayaan-3 Alternate Landing Site: Pre-landing Characterization


Affiliations
1 Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad 380 009, India
2 Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad 380 009, India; Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Gandhinagar 382 055, India
3 Space Applications Centre (Indian Space Research Organization), Ahmedabad 380 015, India
4 Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad 380 009, India; Andhra University, Visakhapatnam 530 003, India
5 Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad 380 009, India; University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram 695 581, India

India’s third Moon mission Chandrayaan-3, has successfully deployed a lander and a rover at a high-latitude location on the Moon to conduct in situ scientific studies that will potentially improve our understanding on the primary crust formation and subsequent modification processes. While the primary landing site (PLS) was situated at 69.367621°S lat., 32.348126°E long., an alternate landing site (ALS) was selected at nearly the same latitude but ~450 km west of PLS, as a contingency. We carried out a detailed study of the geomorphology, composition and temperature characteristics of ALS using the best-ever high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) and ortho-images, and datasets obtained from Chandrayaan-1 and the on-going Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter along with a well-established thermophysical model. Results indicate that like PLS, ALS is also an interesting site for carrying out in situ scientific studies from any future lunar-landing mission.

Keywords

Geomorphology, lander, Moon mission, rover, surface composition, temperature
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  • Chandrayaan-3 Alternate Landing Site: Pre-landing Characterization

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Authors

K. Durga Prasad
Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad 380 009, India
Dibyendu Misra
Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad 380 009, India; Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Gandhinagar 382 055, India
Amitabh
Space Applications Centre (Indian Space Research Organization), Ahmedabad 380 015, India
Megha Bhatt
Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad 380 009, India
G. Ambily
Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad 380 009, India; Andhra University, Visakhapatnam 530 003, India
Sachana Sathyan
Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad 380 009, India; University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram 695 581, India
Neeraj Srivastava
Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad 380 009, India
Anil Bhardwaj
Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad 380 009, India

Abstract


India’s third Moon mission Chandrayaan-3, has successfully deployed a lander and a rover at a high-latitude location on the Moon to conduct in situ scientific studies that will potentially improve our understanding on the primary crust formation and subsequent modification processes. While the primary landing site (PLS) was situated at 69.367621°S lat., 32.348126°E long., an alternate landing site (ALS) was selected at nearly the same latitude but ~450 km west of PLS, as a contingency. We carried out a detailed study of the geomorphology, composition and temperature characteristics of ALS using the best-ever high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) and ortho-images, and datasets obtained from Chandrayaan-1 and the on-going Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter along with a well-established thermophysical model. Results indicate that like PLS, ALS is also an interesting site for carrying out in situ scientific studies from any future lunar-landing mission.

Keywords


Geomorphology, lander, Moon mission, rover, surface composition, temperature



DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv126%2Fi7%2F774-780