India’s ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 Successfully Tested

ISRO – The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), on Sunday (February 19) announced that its soon-to-be third mission to Moon, Chandrayaan-3’s lander has successfully undergone the EMI-EMC (Electro-Magnetic Interference/Electro-Magnetic Compatibility) test. It was conducted at the U R Rao Satellite Centre in the Indian city of Bengaluru between January 31 and February 2, said a statement by the national space agency, on Sunday (February 19).

Why is this test important?

Highlighting the importance of the test, ISRO explained that since Chandrayaan-3 is an interplanetary mission has three major modules, the Propulsion module, Lander module, and Rover. It added, the mission’s complexity calls for establishing radio-frequency (RF) communication links between the modules.

The EMI-EMC test is conducted prior to satellite missions which ensures the functionality of the satellite subsystems in space as well as their compatibility with the expected electromagnetic levels. “This test is a major milestone in the realization of the satellites,” said ISRO.

About Chandrayaan-3 

The Chandrayaan-3 mission will follow Chandrayan-2 and demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface, the Indian space agency had said previously. It will comprise a lander and rover configuration and will be launched by GSLV MkIII from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, an island off the Bay of Bengal coast and dubbed as the spaceport of India.

The propulsion module will carry the lander and rover configuration to 100 km of the Moon’s orbit and will also study the spectral and polarimetric measurements of Earth from there with the help of Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload. However, the final launch date of the mission is yet to be announced but is said to be towards the second or third quarter of this year.

What happened during the test?

The Chandrayaan-3 lander EMI/EC test included launcher compatibility, antenna polarization of all RF systems, standalone auto compatibility tests for orbital and powered descent mission phases, and lander and rover compatibility tests for the post-landing mission phase were ensured, said the statement. The ISRO said that the performance of the lander’s system was satisfactory.