Pradeep's Space Newsletter #57
Chandrayaan 3, Aditya L1, NewSpace fund raises, newsletters and YouTube video updates!
Chandrayaan 3
The Chandrayaan 3 lander and rover are now in hibernation, with ISRO hoping that they would awaken after the 14 day cold lunar night.
Science
ChaSTE (Chandra's Surface Thermophysical Experiment) penetrated 8 cm below surface to understand the thermal properties of the lunar surface. It found that the lunar top layer seems to be a good insulator
Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) made the first in-situ study of the chemical composition of the lunar surface from near the Lunar south pole and confirmed the presence of Sulphur. ISRO claims this was not possible to do from orbiters.
Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) studied the presence of minor elements on the rocks and surface of the Moon. Its observations confirmed the presence of Sulphur.
Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere - Langmuir Probe (RAMBHA-LP) made the first in-situ measurement of the plasma environment near the Moon’s surface. It studies the change in the plasma environment through the lunar day.
Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) aims to record natural seismic activity on the Moon at the landing site. It also measured vibrations caused by motion of the rover. It studied a natural seismic activity which occurred on 26 August 2023.
ISRO has a nice summary page of the science results on the Chandrayaan 3 website.
Lander Hop
Chandrayaan 3’s lander performed a hop on the Moon before it was placed in hibernation mode. The lander lifted off 40 cm from the lunar surface and moved 30-40 cm horizontally before landing at a new spot.
ISRO carried out firings of the engine, a vertical ascent, and other tests before performing the hop. ISRO had not tested the hop on the ground and seems to have been a challenge taken up by the team after the Moon landing. This is ISRO’s first Vertical takeoff vertical landing attempt. Chethan Kumar’s Twitter thread has these details.
Chandrayaan 3 lander was sent into hibernation at 8 am (IST) on 4 September 2023.
Aditya-L1
Aditya-L1, India’s first space-based solar mission lifted off from ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota at 11:50 am (IST) on 2 September 2023. The satellite separation took place after 63 minutes, probably the longest mission for the PSLV for a single spacecraft.
The spacecraft flew on the PSLV-C57, this was the extended length (XL) variant of the PSLV identified by the longer strap-on boosters on the first stage of the PSLV. This variant was first used for the Chandrayaan 1 mission.
Aditya-L1 too has a circuitous mission profile with five Earth Bound Maneuvers over 16 days. It then travels to the Sun-Earth First Lagrange Point (L1) over 109 days before entering a halo orbit around L1.
In two of the five Earth bound maneuvers:
Orbit attained after first Earth bound maneuver: 245 km x 22459 km
Orbit attained after second Earth bound maneuver: 282 km x 40225 km
The third Earth bound maneuver is set for 02:30 am (IST) on 10 September 2023.
NewSpace updates
Manastu Space raises pre-Series A funding of $3 million from Capital 2B, BIG Capital, and E2MC Ventures. The startup focuses on space sustainability through satellite green propulsion and space debris collision avoidance systems.
SatSure raises Series A funding of $15 million from Baring Private Equity Partners India and Promus Ventures, Omidyar Network India, xto10x Force Ventures LLP, Luckbox Ventures, and IndigoEdge Advisors. SatSure is a decision intelligence company that uses space data to help make decisions on Earth.
Newsletter
Jatan’s newsletter on Moon Monday has many specifics related to Chandrayaan 3.
Pranay Kotasthane and RSJ ask the policy question - Can space powers become semiconductor powers?
Aravind at TerraWatch Space has a subscribers-only post on Edge Computing for Earth Observation.
Kiran Vazhupally in his newsletter, Unified Heavens talks about India’s draft National Deep Tech Startup Policy and links to three articles on the strategic and economic consequences of the Chandrayaan 3 mission.
The SatCom Industry Association and it’s August 2023 newsletter.
YouTube
Gareeb Scientist did several videos on the Chandrayaan 3 and Aditya-L1 missions: