Chandrayaan-3 - Indian Moon shot

Chandrayaan-3 - Indian Moon shot

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skwdenyer

Original Poster:

17,957 posts

247 months

Friday 14th July 2023
quotequote all
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-661855...

Just launched. Plan to touch down on the Moon in August.

The stand-out for me? The whole thing's said to have cost just $75m.

SpaceX are charging over $300m per launch for Falcon Heavy to the US Govt (up from $130m in 2019).

eharding

14,147 posts

291 months

Friday 14th July 2023
quotequote all
skwdenyer said:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-661855...

Just launched. Plan to touch down on the Moon in August.

The stand-out for me? The whole thing's said to have cost just $75m.

SpaceX are charging over $300m per launch for Falcon Heavy to the US Govt (up from $130m in 2019).
The LVM3 launch cost for the previous Chandrayaan-2 mission was listed as ₹ 3.75 billion or about $46 million - given that FH has over six times the payload capacity of the LVM3 it would put the cost per kg of the two roughly on a par, and presumably SpaceX are getting a healthy chunk of profit out of their US government launches.

The development cost for Chandrayaan-2 was about $95 million, and since Chandrayaan-3 draws heavily on that platform (with some lander hardware and - hopefully - software updates), I think you'd have to include a significant proportion of that in the effective cost actually achieving a landing. Still a very impressive and ambitious project though.




markiii

3,841 posts

201 months

Friday 14th July 2023
quotequote all
hope they put in the spec it has to come back, or the designers will have left that out

skwdenyer

Original Poster:

17,957 posts

247 months

Friday 14th July 2023
quotequote all
eharding said:
skwdenyer said:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-661855...

Just launched. Plan to touch down on the Moon in August.

The stand-out for me? The whole thing's said to have cost just $75m.

SpaceX are charging over $300m per launch for Falcon Heavy to the US Govt (up from $130m in 2019).
The LVM3 launch cost for the previous Chandrayaan-2 mission was listed as ? 3.75 billion or about $46 million - given that FH has over six times the payload capacity of the LVM3 it would put the cost per kg of the two roughly on a par, and presumably SpaceX are getting a healthy chunk of profit out of their US government launches.

The development cost for Chandrayaan-2 was about $95 million, and since Chandrayaan-3 draws heavily on that platform (with some lander hardware and - hopefully - software updates), I think you'd have to include a significant proportion of that in the effective cost actually achieving a landing. Still a very impressive and ambitious project though.
Thanks. I hadn't had time to dig in further. However, Chandrayaan-2/3 mission costs include the orbiter, lander and rover, don't they? If so it would seem to be a really impressive achievement. Obv Indian salaries are lower (although for some tech jobs not as much lower as one might imagine).

Beati Dogu

9,191 posts

146 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2023
quotequote all
Chandrayaan-3 is expected to land on Wednesday 23rd August at around 18:04 India Standard Time (IST).

I believe that's 1.34 pm UK time


Simpo Two

87,062 posts

272 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2023
quotequote all
skwdenyer said:
The stand-out for me? The whole thing's said to have cost just $75m.

SpaceX are charging over $300m per launch for Falcon Heavy to the US Govt (up from $130m in 2019).
I suspect the labour rate of USA vs India has something to do with it.

Anyway, will it be Russia 0, India 1 tomorrow? A bit embarrassing for Ivan if they pull it off.

Beati Dogu

9,191 posts

146 months

Wednesday 23rd August 2023
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MXRod

2,800 posts

154 months

Wednesday 23rd August 2023
quotequote all
Simpo Two said:
skwdenyer said:
The stand-out for me? The whole thing's said to have cost just $75m.

SpaceX are charging over $300m per launch for Falcon Heavy to the US Govt (up from $130m in 2019).
I suspect the labour rate of USA vs India has something to do with it.

Anyway, will it be Russia 0, India 1 tomorrow? A bit embarrassing for Ivan if they pull it off.
Plenty of change from the £2.5 billion we gave them a couple of years ago them

gotoPzero

18,170 posts

196 months

Wednesday 23rd August 2023
quotequote all
Very close now. I hope they grease the landing.

I also heard this might be the biggest number of people watching a live on YouTube.

Eric Mc

122,855 posts

272 months

Wednesday 23rd August 2023
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I'd keep that side of the discussion off this forum to be honest. This is the Science Forum, not the UK government policy forum

Watching it live now. Let's hope it goes well for them.

gotoPzero

18,170 posts

196 months

Wednesday 23rd August 2023
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Uh looks like horizontal speed is a bit high?

gotoPzero

18,170 posts

196 months

Wednesday 23rd August 2023
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Slowing down now phew

Eric Mc

122,855 posts

272 months

Wednesday 23rd August 2023
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Hovering at 150 meters

Eric Mc

122,855 posts

272 months

Wednesday 23rd August 2023
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Touchdown

Pupp

12,357 posts

279 months

Wednesday 23rd August 2023
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That seemed textbook; fair play, great achievement

Beati Dogu

9,191 posts

146 months

Wednesday 23rd August 2023
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Nice job. Up yours Ivan.

gotoPzero

18,170 posts

196 months

Wednesday 23rd August 2023
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Done in style too. smile

Hammersia

1,564 posts

22 months

Wednesday 23rd August 2023
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Blimey that looked a big control room for an unmanned lander. Success has many fathers I guess.

interstellar

3,783 posts

153 months

Wednesday 23rd August 2023
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Sky news were 30 seconds behind the live feed on you tube and about 100m back of where it was, useless!!

Congrats India, great news!

Eric Mc

122,855 posts

272 months

Wednesday 23rd August 2023
quotequote all
Beati Dogu said:
Nice job. Up yours Ivan.
The crash of Luna 25 a few days ago reminds me very much of the attempt by the Soviets back in 1969 to land Luna 15 on the surface a few days ahead of Apollo 11. That crashed too.