How big is Vikram lander slated for Moon touchdown tomorrow?

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) today released an update on the Chandrayaan 3 mission and said that “The mission is on schedule. Systems are undergoing regular checks. Smooth sailing is continuing.” The space agency a day before the historic landing also shared the mood on the floor of the Mission Operations Complex (MOC) in Bengaluru and expressed it as “buzzed with energy & excitement!”   

ISRO in addition posted the Lander Position Detection Camera (LPDC) images that would assist the Lander Module in determining its position (latitude and longitude) by matching them against an onboard moon reference map.

So how big is the Vikram Lander in size?

The ‘Vikram’ (named after Indian space program pioneer Vikram Sarabhai) lander is a box-shaped (200 x 200 x 116.6 cm), with four landing legs and four landing thrusters. It is smaller than a hatchback car. To be specific, it is about half the size of a hatchback car and carries 3 instruments apart from the 'Pragyan' rover. The lander has a mass of 1749.86 kg, including 26 kg for the rover, and can generate 738 W using side-mounted solar panels.

The 'Vikram' lander is carrying multiple instruments to conduct scientific experiments on the Moon. It includes Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) to measure surface thermal properties, the Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) to measure seismicity around the landing site, the Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA) to study the gas and plasma environment, and a passive laser retroreflector array provided by NASA for lunar ranging studies. 

The 'Pragyan' rover is embedded with two instruments to study the local surface elemental composition, an Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS). 

The Propulsion Module/Orbiter will carry out one experiment called the Spectropolarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) to study Earth from lunar orbit.