BENGALURU: Space science experts said the recently shared fly-by details of the Chandrayaan-3’s (CH-3) Propulsion Module (PM) that orbit around the moon’s gravity after entering the Moon Sphere of Influence, will not just give an understanding of the lunar surface and the gravity, but is also a part of the mission of setting up space stations.
“To land on the lunar polar region, there is a need to have all the knowledge of the moon’s surface and gravity. So far there is little information, available globally on it. There is a need to have all knowledge for bold launching and mapping. These experiments and information gathering will only help,” said an ISRO scientist.
On November 13, ISRO shared details of the Trans-Earth Injection manoeuvres that were held in October. The interplay of the gravity fields held in November. ISRO had stated that on November 6, the first lunar flyby took place at a distance of 3740Km from the moon’s surface.
The second flyby event was on November 11, which was 4537Km from the moon’s surface. Moon Man of India and former Director of ISRO Satellite Centre, Mylswamy Annadurai explained the moon’s average distance from the Earth is known, but the measurements keep changing as it is orbiting just the Earth.
Thus data on lunar orbit, gravity and terrain is being gathered. He said that this is an international effort to look at for future missions. When ISRO had planned the Chandrayaan missions, it used and redefined the Apollo data. The Celine Japanese Space Mission data was also used and further validated. This information is also being shared with NASA and this may translate into India partnering with others for international lunar efforts and India having its share in the setting up of the international lunar space station, he said.