[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by antonylejos

Is it only me who views it this way?

No you are not the only one. I think about it all the time when i read these silly comparisons. For the sake of argument, we also spent thousands of crores on statues. That is a comparison right here at home. Besides cost is not just a function of salaries, it is also processes, risk appetite, the actual payload or the instruments on board.

All that said, it was incredible to hear the cheer at the end. It was pure joy and felt similar to the joy i felt when I saw SpaceX land the rockets for the first time. I hope we take this as an opportunity to talk about science and scientific temperament and make it a part of our conversation rather than whatever we are doing these days. Go Isro.

[Jeroen]

Outstanding achievement! Congratulations to the ISRO team!

Jeroen

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by dust-n-bones

Can someone who knows this stuff, comment on why that is so, and why the rover cannot be powered back on the next sunrise in 14 earth days? Would that not extend the science the rover can do and perform many more secondary experiments? Batteries could power critical/heating systems.

Ultimately, these missions are a combination of risk / effort vs. reward. The payload could take a straight path and reach the moon within a week, but that would require rockets of a much, much higher capacity. Similarly, the landers and rovers could have provisioning to last beyond the lunar night (where temps go up to -230 deg C), but the technology required to enable so might not fit into the calculations / capabilities feasible right now.

What's important to note is that this is the first mission to land near the south pole of the moon.

The other thing - almost always, missions tend to go beyond (often, significantly beyond) the period initially envisaged for. Eg. the Propulsion Module of the Chandrayaan-3 has so much fuel left, that it may continue to orbit the Moon for several years vs. the three-six months originally slated for.

https://www.india.com/science/chandr...ssion-6251970/

[PreludeSH]

Since ISRO has perfected the landing, there could be more sophisticated rovers in future, including Mars. Also, demonstrates some designed shortcomings of frugal engineering in terms of lifecycle of rover.

The Russian Luna that crashed was supposed to have a 1 year life. Not sure if they just said that knowing too well that they are not going to land They seem to have some skill in crashing objects from air including on earth that they did just yesterday of a plane

[livezero]

Watched it live with kids. Incredible achievement for ISRO and all of us. Really happy for the folks involved in this project and the entire scientist fraternity.

We shortly work on a tiny astro project at National Institute of Radio Astrophysics (NCRT) Pune and had the privilege of working under the guidance of some of the scientists at NCRT, IUCAA & GMRT.

The efforts put up by the scientists are incredible to say the least. And these are some of the most humble folks you will ever come across. They prefer staying behind the curtains and keep doing what they love with a complete disregard for money, material stuff and fame.

Last year I purchased some official ISRO Merchandise from: https://www.indicinspirations.com/collections/vyom

Surely a stuff we can wear with a pride!

Note: I have no commercial interest in Indic Inspirations.

[Old_Salt]

Watched it with my 5 year old son and he was counting down every second.

The moment I told him it landed safely he said he was going to the balcony to check it on the moon.

However this pic sums it all for me.

[dust-n-bones]

Originally Posted by itisK

As far as I know, it is possible to power it up on the next lunar day. Both, lander and rover, have batteries for that.

But the electronics are not expected to survive the extremely cold lunar night. So ISRO is most likely playing it safe.

Originally Posted by mygodbole

Plenty low temps where Chandrayaan 3 landed. Any battery exposed to ultra low/ultra high temps, malfunctions. If that had been feasible, I believe ISRO would NOT have neglected it.

Well, the lander+rover did survive space temps, didn't they. And they will function in the high temps of a lunar day. Not sure if this leads to the answer.

My guess (an opinion, again) is that ISRO historically has been focused on remote earth sensing, which means rockets which get you to orbit and satellites. Hence it is largely an engineering setup.

Science is essentially a separate 'vertical' in space. Chandrayan has opened the doors for it. ISRO will need to start collaborating with geologists, astrophysicists, and scientists in general from academia, both in the country and internationally to take it to the next level.

Something like the National Science Foundation of USA is has been proposed in India to co-ordinate this effort holistically.

https://twitter.com/PrinSciAdvOff/st...18031490723846

Interesting days ahead.

[sodapop]

Found this excellent reel explaining the mission in layman terms. Thought would be helpful for their unfamiliar with it.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CwScu...RlODBiNWFlZA==

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by dust-n-bones

Well, the lander+rover did survive space temps, didn't they. And they will function in the high temps of a lunar day. Not sure if this leads to the answer.

Interesting days ahead.

I was under the impression the significance of this mission is about the south pole landing of moon which I believe has regions under permanent shadow from sun rays and hence the possibility of finding ice or water. So my guess is rover may not get adequate solar energy to extend the mission. This is just my hypothesis and please correct me if wrong.

Overall, this is a fantastic yet another milestone achieved by ISRO. I am sure the scientific world will utilize this opportunity to get more insights. But for the larger Indian society especially the school going children, this euphoric event is an inspirational one and the impact will be seen in a decade or two.I still remember how APJ inspired students in TN schools especially rural government schools.

On the geopolitical side, this is yet another instance that world is pivoting to global south. Using this momentum, we have to build institutions across science, arts, education, trade in the coming decades that will be etched in history.

[Toni]

Congratulations to Team ISRO.

Attaching a photo of our Scientists who made this possible.

Jai Hind.

[IamNikhil]

It was an ethereal feeling to watch the proceedings live yesterday evening. My society had set up a huge screen in for everyone to watch together. Everyone was watching with bated breath as the countdown begun. The slogans of "Jai Hind" and "Bharat Mata ki Jai" reverberated loudly as soon as the mission was successful. Haven't experienced such craze even during screenings on Ind-Pak matches!

Hearty congratulations to the entire ISRO team for this stupendous feat. Truly proud to be an Indian. Jai Hind!

[DrVjy]

Originally Posted by itisK

As far as I know, it is possible to power it up on the next lunar day. Both, lander and rover, have batteries for that.

But the electronics are not expected to survive the extremely cold lunar night. So ISRO is most likely playing it safe.

In the south pole site where it now is, the rover is meant to work for 14 lunar days, which is 1 day on earth. The rover, like it's lander and mother satellite, Chandrayaan 3, has solar power. See the image here



Obviously, yes, solar power wouldn't help when the sun is on the other side of the moon. That's again why there are batteries on board too! And fortunately on the moon, there are no clouds like on earth to cut off solar energy.

Coming to the temperature issue, just to let you know, on any solar panel, a.f.a my knowledge goes (am an ex- ISRO scientist), it's something like -180 deg C on the earth- facing side and a contrasting +300 deg C on the sun- facing side. That will of course cause thermal and hence structural distortion and if not accounted for and in turn, debonding of cells from the substrate (a mission failure), but that's what we engineers are there for! Also, as the image shows, electronics is thermally managed. Indeed in systems like a satellite, heating is needed to prevent onboard fuel from freezing, that again can precipitate failure. This was precisely what happened in INSAT 2D, if my memory is right.

[UD17]

I got lot of congratulatory message from our overseas offices today. Felt as good as if I have personally placed the lander on the moon

Google also has put in the search engine.

[PreludeSH]

Originally Posted by DrVjy

In the south pole site where it now is, the rover is meant to work for 14 lunar days, which is 1 day on earth. The rover, like it's lander and mother satellite, Chandrayaan 3, has solar power. See the image here

Its the reverse. 1 lunar day is 14 earth days. Also, a lunar year is same as lunar day if you consider revolution of moon around earth as its year

[puntra800]

One thing I have noticed in all the American news channels, they always mention 4th country to land on moon and discount the fact that India was the first country to land on the south pole. Indian channels do project the fact of south pole more but at the same time acknowledge the fact that we did it after US,Soviets and the Chinese.