Lok Sabha Question No. 616 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-06
Subject: Chandrayaan-3 Lander
Ministry: SPACE
Asked by: D. Ravikumar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF SPACE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 616

TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 06, 2023

## CHANDRAYAAN-3 LANDER

## 616. SHRI RAVIKUMAR D.:

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

- (a)
- (b)
- the details collected by Chandrayaan-3 Lander;
- the details of the next plan of ISRO; and
- (c) the progress made in human space flight programme so far?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES & PENSIONS AND IN THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (DR. JITENDRA SINGH):

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- (a) The Chandrayaan-3 lander, after landing on the lunar surface,  had  deployed  the  scientific  instruments,  and  the rover  was  made  to  roll  out.  The  scientific  instruments onboard the lander and rover were operated till the completion  of  the  lunar  day.  The  major  findings  of  the Chandrayaan-3 lander-rover duo include first-ever detection of Sulphur on the lunar regolith, along with trace constituents  like  Carbon,  Nitrogen,  Phosphorus,  Titanium,

Manganese, Cromium, Nikel; first-ever temperature profiling of the lunar regolith up to ~ 10 cm depth, results show good thermal insulating properties of the lunar soil. In addition to these,  the  Instrument  for  Lunar  Seismic  Activity  (ILSA) instrument  onboard  the  lander  recorded  a  few  events  of ground vibrations of the lunar surface. The Langmuir probe onboard the Chandrayaan-3 lander did the first-ever characterization of the near-surface lunar plasma at higher lunar latitude; the first-cut observations indicate that only a few tens to hundreds of electrons per cubic centimeter exist near the lunar surface.

- (b) Building upon the success of Chandrayaan-3, future Chandrayaan  missions  are  undergoing  feasibility  studies, which  shall  be  put  up  for  Government  approval  at  an appropriate stage. As of now, future Chandrayaan Missions are undergoing  the  overall mission  architecture design phase, wherein studies are being done towards finalizing the system configuration, flight profile, identification of critical technologies, required infrastructure, etc.
- (c) The status of Indian human space flight programme 'Gaganyaan' is as follows;
- I. Test Vehicle TV-D1 Mission: First test vehicle mission (TV-D1)  successfully  accomplished  on  21 st   October, 2023.
- II. A
- Comprehensive Assessment of Gaganyaan Programme: Special  Committee  reviewed  and  recommended
- additional test programmes for ensuring high reliability and confidence to the mission.
- III. Human rating of launch vehicle: Testing of all propulsion systems completed.
- IV. Crew Management: Crew training and associated evaluation are in progress with the selected astronauts.
- V. Infrastructure  for  Gaganyaan  Mission  is  getting  ready to meet the overall schedules.
- VI. With  the  finalised  qualification  programme  prior  to human  space  missions,  3  more  Test  Vehicle  abort missions & 3 unmanned missions to orbit are planned. The  overall  schedule  is  to  accomplish  the  Human space mission by end of 2025.

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