• corporate

IIT Bhilai witnessed the historic moon landing of Chandrayaan 3

• nationalherald
• August 25, 2023

by Prashant Kapadia/NHN

BHILAI, 25^th August 2023: Chandrayaan-3, India’s lunar exploration mission is a historical achievement that will be remembered forever. In the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s own words “…. ये पल अविस्मरणीय है, ये क्षण अभूतपूर्व है….. ये क्षण जीत के चन्द्रपथ पर चलने का है….”

The IIT Bhilai community witnessed this momentous occasion along with the entire country. The live telecast of the event was screened in the presence of Prof. Rajiv Prakash, Director IIT Bhilai. It was a great opportunity for young minds to witness history in the making. It highlighted once more that India is a powerhouse in the sciences such as astronomy and space-science, and its engineering capabilities in launching such great missions is enormous. IITs are an example of the in-house talent and training in India.

Expressing pride on the occasion, Prof. Rajiv Prakash shared his vision for IIT Bhilai as a leading institute in scientific research, astronomy, space-science and engineering with students and faculty members.

He added that IIT Bhilai has excellent faculty leading in research and teaching and bright young students full of energy. The institute has cutting edge equipment and infrastructure along with engineering capabilities. IIT Bhilai is a beacon of excellence in technical education, and it is pioneering scientific research in the Chhattisgarh region. The institute, under the leadership of Prof. Rajiv Prakash, is a nursery of talent that will flow into organizations such as ISRO and carry on these traditions to make history for India.

About Chandrayaan-3 mission: Chandrayaan-3, launched by ISRO, started its journey on July 14, 2023. It has several salient features and achievements that showcase India’s muscle in space science and technology, and in science and engineering in general.

The most ambitious feature of the mission was to successfully execute a controlled landing on the south pole of the Moon, which has never been done before. The Vikram Lander was tested and programmed for this occasion rigorously by ISRO scientists. With this, India is the 4th country to land on the Moon and 1st to land on the south pole of the Moon.

The entire mission was carried out in an efficient, precise but cost-effective manner. The science of landing can be explained in simple terms through a slingshot mechanism. It’s like using earth’s gravity as a slingshot. First, it orbits the earth and gathers momentum as it goes in increasingly larger circles, then it is let loose in a more open-ended orbit towards the moon like a slingshot.

Finally, its motion is maneuvered so that it gets captured by the Moon’s gravity. On the historical day of August 23, 2023, through a series of maneuvers including a power descent, it landed on the Moon and the lander conveyed its message: “I reached my destination and you too.” It marked a moment of great pride for the nation.

Objectives of the mission include a chemical analysis of the Moon’s soil, search for the presence of water ice, charting the history of asteroid impacts on the Moon’s surface, and characterization of the Moon’s atmosphere.

To achieve its objectives, Chandrayaan-3 has various scientific instruments on board, such as, Alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (APSX), Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE), Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA), Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS), Langmuir Probe (RAMBHA-LP), Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE).

(Source of the information is ISRO and credit to ISRO)

– Staff Scientist (IIT Bhilai)

ABOUT IIT BHILAI : Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhilai was established in the State of Chhattisgarh by Ministry of Human Resource and Development in the year 2016. IIT Bhilai offers Bachelor of Technology (BTech), Master of Technology (MTech), Master of Science (MSc) and Doctoral programs (PhD) in various departments. IIT Bhilai has established a 3-D Printing Lab that constitutes an integral part of 3-D Modeling and Design course, a fabrication lab, an electrical lab, a computer lab and a library in a short duration.