Chandrayaan-3: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said it successfully reduced the orbit of the Chandrayaan-3 mission's Lander Module (LM), further bringing it nearer to the moon. The national space agency on Sunday asserted that the Lander Module (LM) of the spacecraft would now undergo internal checks. The ambitious moon mission will touch down on the lunar surface on August 23 evening, it said.
Lander Module to undergo internal checks
“The second and final deboosting (slowing down) operation has successfully reduced the LM orbit to 25 km x 134 km. The module would undergo internal checks and await the sun-rise at the designated landing site. The powered descent is expected to commence on August 23, 2023, around 1745 Hrs IST,” ISRO said in a post on 'X' (formerly Twitter) on Sunday.
"Prepare for landing! The final deboosting operation of Chandrayaan 3 successfully reduces the Lander Module orbit to 25 km x 134 km. Countdown begins as the destination moon draws just within reach," said MoS Science & Technology Jitendra Singh on X (formerly known as Twitter).
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Earlier on Thursday, the Lander Module of Chandrayaan-3 successfully separated from the Propulsion Module. This operation took place 35 days after the mission was launched on July 24.
Lander to undergo deboost operations
ISRO sources earlier said, that after the separation, the lander is expected to undergo "deboost" (the process of slowing down) operations to place it in an orbit, where the Perilune (the orbit's closest point to the Moon) is 30 kilometres and Apolune (farthest point from the Moon) is 100 km, from where the soft landing on the south polar region of the Moon will be attempted.
At around 30 km altitude, the lander enters the powered braking phase, and begins to use its thrusters to reach the surface of the moon, they said, adding that at an altitude of about 100 m altitude, the lander would scan the surface to check whether there are any obstacles and then start descending to make a soft landing.
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Landing on August 23
Post its launch on July 14, Chandrayaan-3 entered into the lunar orbit on August 5, following which orbit reduction manoeuvres were carried out on the satellite on August 6, 9, 14 and 16, ahead of the separation of both its modules on August 17, in the runup to the landing on August 23.
Earlier, over five moves in the three weeks since the July 14 launch, ISRO lifted the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft into orbits farther and farther away from the Earth. Then, on August 1 in a key manoeuvre -- a slingshot move -- the spacecraft was sent successfully towards the Moon from Earth's orbit. Following this trans-lunar injection, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft escaped from orbiting the Earth and began following a path that would take it to the vicinity of the moon.
(with inputs from PTI)
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