Difference between Chandrayaan 2 & Chandrayaan 3

With its Lunar Mission "Chandrayaan 3," India has made history by being the first country to land on the lunar south pole and the fourth country to place a rover on the moon on 23/08/23 at 12:33 UTC.

The project is an iteration of a failed attempt four years ago with Chandrayaan 2, in which the ground crew lost communication moments before landing on the moon. 

With ISRO's failure, the team made sure to make the necessary corrections to ensure the success of Chandrayaan 3! This article will examine the Chandrayaan 2 Vs Chandrayaan 3 the major differences between Chandrayaan 2 and Chandrayaan 3, the risk factors and how the project became successful.

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Table of Content

• Key Difference between Chandrayaan 2 and Chandrayaan 3 
• Why Mission Chandrayaan-3 is significant for India?
• How has Data Analytics helped the Moon mission of India?
• Conclusion 

Key Difference between Chandrayaan 2 and Chandrayaan 3 

1. Approach 

Chandrayaan 2 comprised three major components: the orbiter, Vikram Lander and Pragyan Rover. It followed a success-based approach, aiming for a successful landing within the area of 500mx500m. 

Whereas, Chandrayaan-3 was based on a failure-based approach to ensure the success of the project. It comprised of a lander called Vikram, and a rover named Pragyan while omitting the orbiter. It was aiming to land safely within the area of 4kmx2.4km. 

2. Aim of the mission 

Another difference between Chandrayaan 2 and Chandrayaan 3 is the main objective. The primary objective for Chandrayaan 2 was to study the lunar topography, mineralogy, elemental abundance, and lunar exosphere and also search for water ice in polar regions. 

The aim for Chandrayaan 3 was set as a Soft landing on the lunar’s south pole, deploying a rover from the lander to explore the south pole, studying the composition and distribution of water on the surface, study the mineralogy and geology of the surface and study the lunar environment and how it has contributed to the moon’s evolution. 

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3. Design 

Chandrayaan-2 had a central thrust and five legs. 

The modifications in Chandrayaan-3 include removing the central thrust, strengthening the legs for high-velocity landing and adding more solar panels for extra power and sustainability.  The design was adopted with a failure-based approach which includes engine failure, sensor failure, calculation failure and algorithm failure observed in the previous mission. 

4. Apparatus 

Chandrayaan 2 Vs Chandrayaan 3, the difference between two lunar space probes is of apparatus. Chandrayaan-2 orbiter carried 9 instruments in the orbit whereas Chandrayaan-3 has a lone instrument in the orbit called The Spectro-Polarimetry of Planet Earth.  The launch rocket used for both the missions is same though some minor modifications have been made to successfully complete the project. Moreover, there was only one computer onboard in Chandrayaan 2 whereas there were two onboard computers in Chandrayaan-3.

5. Payloads and Scientific Instruments 

Another prominent difference between Chandrayaan 2 and Chandrayaan 3 is the payloads. Chandrayaan-2 payloads included scientific instruments on Orbiter, Lander and Rover. Lander’s payload comprises RAMBHA, ChaSTE, ILSA and LP. The Pragyan Rover comprises an Alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer and a Laser-induced Breakdown Spectroscope for analysis. 

Chandrayaan-3 carries a shape payload and the payloads include RAMBHA(from NASA), ChaSTE, LP and ILSA. and Rover-Payloads remain consistent. 

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Why Mission Chandrayaan-3 is significant for India?

Image Source: ISRO

Chandrayaan-3 has opened doors for India and other countries to explore the space from a new perspective. Let us see why the mission is very significant for India and what are the outcomes of the mission that will help us move to a trajectory of success: 

1. The mission will demonstrate new technology for the interplanetary mission. 
2. It will also research the chemical makeup of the moon and the availability of water. 
3. It will also be analyzing the gases emitted through the moon’s surface. 
4. Research about potential human habitation. 
5. It will also check the density of the charged particles near the Lunar Surface. 
6. Determination of elemental composition of soil. 

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How has Data Analytics helped the Moon mission of India?

Data Analytics is a process of collecting, processing, analysing and interpreting data from various sources and it is an integral part of any space mission. Let us see how Data Analytics has helped the Moon Mission of India:

1. Data Analytics helped in designing the propulsion system of Chandaryaan 3

It consists of bi-propellant thrusters that use monomethylhydrazine as fuel and mixed oxides of nitrogen as oxidizers. Data analytics help in the determination of the configuration, placement and orientation of these thrusters. It helps reduce fuel consumption, increase thrust efficiency and helps in maintaining the stability of the probe. 

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2. Designing landing site selection algorithm 

The algorithm is responsible for selecting the landing site on the lunar surface. It makes the decision based on many factors such as slope angle, roughness, illumination condition and thermal environment. Data Analytics helped in developing this algorithm using machine learning to train a classifier what are the hazardous situations based on the pictures from orbiters and satellites. 

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3. Help in analysing data collected by the scientific payloads of Chandryaan 3 

Scientific payloads include:

1. Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive Ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA) 
2. Which is responsible for measuring plasma density and temperature in the lunar ionosphere and atmosphere. 
3. Chandra’s Surface Thermo Physical Experiment (ChaSTE): It is responsible for measuring the thermal conductivity and heat flux using a thermal probe. 
4. Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA): It determines the seismic events on the lunar surface. 
5. Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA): It is responsible for the precise measurement of the lunar orbit and distance. 
6. Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS): It is responsible for determining the elemental composition of the lunar surface with alpha particles and X-rays. 
7. Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS):  It is responsible for determining the elemental composition of the lunar surface with a laser beam melting a small part of the material. 

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Data Analytics has helped immensely in the success of Mission Chandrayaan-3 for India. For any individual who is interested in space study, knowledge of  Data Analytics and Machine Learning is extremely crucial. A course like the StarAgile Data Science Course helps an individual build the foundation required to study Data Analytics and Machine Learning. The field has plenty of employment opportunities not only in Space research but in other industries as well like Automotive, Healthcare, Telecommunications, Digital Marketing and retail Industry. 

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Conclusion 

The Chandrayaan-3 mission has been a success for India due to many factors one of them including proper implementation of Data Analytics. In this article we have covered all the success aspects of Chandrayaan-3: from the failure-based approach to the usage of data analytics to make a perfect landing. 

We hope it was an insightful read and now you are fully aware of the differences between Chandaryaan-2 and Chandarayaan-3 and what made the project successful!