Chandrayaan-3 Mission:

‘Thanks for the ride, mate! ’
said the Lander Module (LM).

LM is successfully separated from the Propulsion Module (PM)

LM is set to descend to a slightly lower orbit upon a deboosting planned for tomorrow around 1600 Hrs., IST.

Now, has3⃣ … pic.twitter.com/rJKkPSr6Ct

— ISRO (@isro) August 17, 2023

The spacecraft is in an orbit of 153 km x 163 km after the firing on August 16, 2023 and the lander module has now successfully detached from the propulsion module, setting the stage for the moon landing on August 23.

So, in an historic first for the country, India has three satellites around the moon at once, the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, the Chandrayaan-3 orbiter and the Vikram lander.

With just a week left for Chandrayaam-3’s moon landing, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on August 16 successfully carried out the fifth and final orbit reduction manoeuvre.

The manoeuvre which commenced at 8.30 a.m. was performed from ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru.

‘Today’s successful firing, needed for a short duration, has put Chandrayaan-3 into an orbit of 153 km x 163 km, as intended.With this, the lunar bound manoeuvre are completed,’ ISRO said on August 16.

On Monday, the spacecraft had achieved a near-circular orbit around the moon. 

As per the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Chandrayaan-3 made the significant move between 11:30 am to 12:30 pm on August 14.

‘Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft undergoes another maneuver, achieves near-circular orbit around moon,’ ISRO had posted on X (formerly Twitter).

As the mission progresses, a series of manoeuvres are being conducted by ISRO to gradually reduce Chandrayaan-3’s orbit and position it over the lunar poles.

This was the final orbit reduction step to bring the spacecraft closer to the Moon, after which the landing module, comprising the lander and rover successfully broke away from the propulsion module.

After the completion of the five orbit reduction manoeuvres ISRO said that it was gearing up for the next most crucial operations o.e the lander separation today.

The lander is expected to undergo a ‘deboost’ (the process of slowing down) now and make a soft landing on the south-polar region of the Moon on August 23.

Chandrayaan-3 had entered into lunar orbit or the Moon’s orbit on August 5, after being launched on July 4.

‘It’s time for preparations as the Propulsion Module and the Lander Module gear up for their separate journeys. Separation of the Lander Module from the Propulsion Module is planned for August 17, 2023,’ the space agency had said prior to the manoeuvre.

Following that, a series of complex braking manoeuvres will be executed to facilitate the soft landing in the South Polar region of the Moon. The lander is expected to touch down on the moon surface at 5.47 p.m.

Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surfacem, developing and demonstrating new technologies required for inter-planetary missions and to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.

It comprises an indigenous propulsion module, lander module, and a rover. The lander will have the capability to soft land at a specified lunar site and deploy the rover that will carry out the analysis of the Moon’s surface during the course of its mobility.

The propulsion module will carry the lander and rover configuration till 100 km lunar orbit.

The propulsion module has Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload to study the spectral and polarimetric measurements of earth from the lunar orbit.

This article has been updated.