Contextual characterisation study of Chandrayaan-3 primary landing site

Abstract

Chandrayaan-3 is an upcoming lunar mission of India aimed at soft-landing and carrying out first-ever in situ investigations at a high-latitude location on the Moon. Chandrayaan-3 consists of a propulsion module, a lander and a rover, that carry a set of payloads for conducting in-situ science experiments. In this work, contextual characterization of the primary landing site(PLS) located at 69.367621 degree S, 32.348126 degree E is carried out in terms of identification, geomorphology, composition and thermophysical context using the best-ever high-resolution datasets. Our geomorphological study indicates that the PLS is safe for landing with slope less than 4 degree in about 78% of landing area and an average elevation variation of about 169m. The spectral analysis suggests that the region must have experienced extensive space weathering. Compositional analysis indicate that the landing region has a typical highland type of soil characteristics with Mg(4.3 to 5.2 wt.%), Fe(4.2 to 4.9 wt.%), Ca(10-11 wt.%), and Ti(0.25-0.35wt.%). Thermophysical analyses show ~30K and ~175K variability in spatial and diurnal temperatures at the PLS- an indicative of a local terrain of distinctive thermophysical characteristics. With important science instruments onboard, Chandrayaan-3 will provide a unique opportunity towards looking at localised variations leading to an improved understanding of the lunar surface.