India will make history when Chandrayaan-3 lands on the lunar terrain on August 23 and as an icing on the cake, the Pragyan rover is expected to leave India's mark on the moon.
The national emblem, depicting the Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath, and the ISRO logo imprinted on the rover's wheels will leave a mark on the lunar regolith, a layer of rock and dust on the moon's bedrock.
About 15 years ago, on November 14, 2008, a Moon Impact Probe (MIP), with the tricolour painted on it, crash-landed on the moon, making India the fourth country to place its national flag on the lunar surface.
Payloads in Pragyan rover
Pragyan rover, a six-wheeled robotic vehicle, has two payloads. First one is Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS), which will study the basic composition of the moon's surface and understand the mineral content. The second one is Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS), which will ascertain the chemical elemental composition of magnesium, aluminum, iron, silicon, pottasium, titanium and calcium on the lunar surface.
Payloads in Vikram lander
The solar-powered Vikram lander has three payloads. One is the Rambha-LP, which measures the density of near-surface plasma, and monitor its variations in time. Another one is CHASTE (Chandra's Surface Thermo-physical Experiment, which measures the thermal properties of the lunar surface in the landing area. The third one is ILSA (Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity), which serves the purpose of measuring seismicity around the landing site and help delineate the structure of the lunar crust and mantle.
Payloads in the propulsion module
The propulsion module has only one payload – Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE), which will gather data based on the polarization of light reflected by the earth. This will be used to look for exoplanets that exhibit similar characteristics.