APOD: Chandrayaan-3 Launches to the Moon (2023 Jul 19)

[APOD Robot]

Chandrayaan-3 Launches to the Moon

Explanation: Birds don't fly this high. Airplanes don't go this fast. The Statue of Liberty weighs less. No species other than human can even comprehend what is going on, nor could any human just a millennium ago. The launch of a rocket bound for space is an event that inspires awe and challenges description. Pictured here last week, the Indian Space Research Organization's LVM3 rocket blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Sriharikota Island, India. From a standing start, the 600,000+ kilogram rocket ship lifted the massive Chandrayaan-3 off the Earth. The Chandrayaan-3 mission is scheduled to reach the Moon in late August and land a robotic rover near the lunar South Pole. Rockets bound for space are now launched from somewhere on Earth every few days.

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[drnance]

What fuel is this rocket using to give it that color?

[De58te]

Chandrayaan-3 lifted off on July 14, and is scheduled to land on the Moon on August 23. That is as I calculate a travel time of 40 days.
Just to put it in perspective and to show the advancement of technology and science, how long did it take Apollo 11 some 54 years ago, to reach the Moon?

[Chris Peterson]

What fuel is this rocket using to give it that color?

First stage thrust is provided by hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene solid rockets.

[Chris Peterson]

Chandrayaan-3 lifted off on July 14, and is scheduled to land on the Moon on August 23. That is as I calculate a travel time of 40 days.
Just to put it in perspective and to show the advancement of technology and science, how long did it take Apollo 11 some 54 years ago, to reach the Moon?

About three days. But this isn't really about technology... which in terms of rockets, hasn't changed all that much. With an unmanned mission, there is no need for speed, so it makes sense to choose much more energy efficient trajectories. Our travel time now for a manned mission would be similar to what it was in the Apollo era. Indeed, the upcoming Artemis crewed lunar flights have about 4-day trip times.

[JohnD]

The EPoD picture today provides a pleasing coincidence: https://epod.usra.edu/
John

[johnnydeep]

The EPoD picture today provides a pleasing coincidence: https://epod.usra.edu/
John

I suppose because the blooming Tajinastes Rosados plants look like the launch plumes of rockets?

[orin stepanek]

Rover an unusual looking lander; so as long as it works; who cares!

Hey kitty, we all get confused once in a while!

[johnnydeep]

Chandrayaan-3_Rover.webp.png
Rover an unusual looking lander; so as long as it works; who cares!
...
Hey kitty, we all get confused once in a while!

Not really that unusual. Aside from the flip-up solar panel, it looks a lot like Sojourner which landed on Mars on July 4, 1997!

Sojourner is a robotic Mars rover that landed in the Ares Vallis channel in the Chryse Planitia region of the Oxia Palus quadrangle on July 4, 1997. Sojourner was operational on Mars for 92 sols (95 Earth days). It was the first wheeled vehicle to rove on a planet other than Earth and formed part of the Mars Pathfinder mission.[1] The rover was equipped with front and rear cameras, and hardware that was used to conduct several scientific experiments. It was designed for a mission lasting 7 sols, with a possible extension to 30 sols,[2] and was active for 83 sols (85 Earth days). The rover communicated with Earth through the Pathfinder base station, which had its last successful communication session with Earth at 3:23 a.m. PDT on September 27, 1997.[3] The last signal from the rover was received on the morning of October 7, 1997.[4]

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