Chandrayaan 3 Latest News: NASA’s Chandrayaan-3 payload to power up after Vikram lander lands, Pragyan rover sleeps | India News
While three other Vikram payloads, the Radio Anatomy of the Moon’s Ionosphere and Extremely Sensitive Atmosphere (RAMBHA), the Chandra Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) and the Lunar Seismic Activity Instrument (ILSA), were run by Isro, the LRA is an instrument built from before NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
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The LRA is designed to use laser light reflected from the orbiting spacecraft’s laser—usually a laser altimeter or light detector and ranging (LIDAR)—to determine, as a reliability marker (assumed to be a stable basis for comparison), the exact location of the lander, and the distance to that point on the lunar surface relative to to the orbital vehicle.
Retro reflectors reflect any light that strikes them directly back to the source. It can be tracked by orbital laser altimeter or lidar from a few hundred kilometres.
According to NASA, the LRA on Vikram consists of eight circular reflectors in the shape of an angle cube with a diameter of 1/2 inch mounted on a gold-plated hemispherical platform measuring 2.11 inches in diameter and 1.65 inches in height. Each of the retro reflectors points in a slightly different direction, and each has a maximum useful angle of light incidence of approximately +-20 degrees. The total mass of the LRA is 20 grams, and it requires no power.
To prevent interference
“The LRA is not planned to be used in the range until after the Chandrayaan mission is completed,” David R. Williams, acting chief of NASA’s Coordinating Archive for Space Science Data, told TOI.
While Tuei’s team sent questions to both Williams and Xiaoli Sun, the LRA’s principal investigator, Williams responded to the inquiries as the person designated to handle them.
On why the LRA will not operate until the Chandrayaan-3 mission is complete, Williams said, citing Sun and other members of the LRA team, that the goal is to ensure that it does not interfere with the operation of the optical equipment (cameras and spectrometers) on the lander. .
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“The LRA would allow its location on the surface to be determined very accurately from an orbiting spacecraft. This could then be combined with knowledge of the orbiting spacecraft’s position to give an accurate measurement of the distance from the LRA to Earth, which could help in understanding the details of the Moon’s motion relative to the Earth. Once Placing a number of LRAs on the lunar surface that can serve as fiducial markers and create a geodetic network on the surface will help plan accurate landings for future missions, Williams said.
Williams said that given that LRA ranging(s) can only be done by an orbiter equipped with a laser altimeter, the only orbiter that can do laser altimeter right now is NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), “Using a laser altimeter, LOLA.” He said there was no confirmation as to whether LRO had surpassed Vikram yet.
“The LRA forces should last for a long time, so that future missions can use them. The more LRAs you have, the better the (geodestic) network. They are planned for many future missions, but in reality there is no limit.” lower than the number they need.
