Chandrayaan-3’s Moon landing in 3 days: ISRO’s Vikram lander’s journey so far
Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar mission, is all set to make its first soft-landing attempt on the Moon in three days.
On Sunday morning, the second and final deboosting operation of the mission was carried out successfully, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) informed. Post this, the module will be undergoing internal checks, and the powered descent is expected to start on August 23.
“The second and final deboosting 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,” the ISRO wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Chandrayaan-3’s journey so far:
July 6: The ISRO declared Chandrayaan-3 mission would launch on July 14 from Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota’s second launch pad.
July 7: All vehicle electrical tests were completed successfully.
July 11: A 24-hour ‘Launch Rehearsal’ was done successfully.
July 14: ISRO’s LVM3 M4 launched Chandrayaan-3 into its intended orbit.
July 15: The mission’s first orbit-raising manoeuvre succeeded in Bengaluru. The spacecraft reached an orbit of 41762 km x 173 km.
July 17: The second orbit-raising manoeuvre put Chandrayaan-3 in an orbit of 41603 km x 226 km.
July 22: The fourth orbit-raising manoeuvre, Earth-bound perigee firing, successfully placed the spacecraft in a 71351 km x 233 km orbit.
July 25: Another orbit-raising manoeuvre was carried out successfully.
August 1: In a significant milestone, Chandrayaan-3 entered the translunar orbit with an orbit of 288 km x 369328 km.
August 5: The spacecraft entered the lunar orbit at 164 km x 18074 km.
August 6: The spacecraft’s orbit was lowered to 170 km x 4,313 km around the Moon.
August 9: Another manoeuver was performed that lowered the spacecraft to 174 km x 1437 km.
August 14: The mission entered the orbit circularisation phase of 151 km x 179 km orbit.
August 16: The spacecraft entered the orbit of 153 km x 163 km after the firing.
August 17: The landing module, comprising the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover was separated from its propulsion system.
August 18: The spacecraft successfully completed a ‘deboosting’ operation that reduced its orbit to 113 km x 157 km. Deboosting is the process of slowing down to position itself in an orbit where the orbit’s closest point to the Moon (Perilune) is 30 km and the farthest point (the Apolune) is 100 km.
August 20: Chandrayaan-3 performed the second and final deboosting operation and reduced the LM orbit to 25 km x 134 km.
August 23: If everything goes well and as planned, the spacecraft will land on the lunar surface.