Apart from studying the moon the Chandrayaan-3 is now aiding to study the possibility of exo-planets, the celestial bodies orbiting the stars which are beyond solar system. As per the recent report the scientific instrument aboard the Chandrayaan-3 propulsion module which is specifically known as SHAPE- Spectro Polarimetry of Habitable planet Earth, has been now successfully orbiting the moon for an impressive 52 days that is during this time it has indeed collected substantial data and is poised to continue its operation.
SHAPE primary mission now is to scrutinize the earth for a habitable planet- like features while circumnavigating the moon. The data which is obtained from all these observations will be so valuable resource for the whole Indian Space research organization in all their future studies of exoplanets which are referred to as the celestial body orbiting stars beyond our solar system.
According to the ISRO Chairman S Somanath SHAPE can only be operated when the visibility from earth is seen optimal and it even consistently acquires data when it is active. This data which is collected is time-invariant, which means that one specific characteristic of earth are recorded and they may remain unchanged over time.
Initially as known by the information it is expected to have a lifespan of approximately six months and SHAPE’s extended operation has really been made possible by the surplus fuel to be retained. After separating from the so called landing module the propulsion module still had over and over 150 kg of fuel remaining and while some of this fuel was utilized to maintain its 100km orbit and also perform its operations over the last 50 days there is still an ample amount of fuel which is left to continue its lunar orbit for many years.
