Chandrayaan-3: Final Deboosting Completed; Aug 23 Landing Date Approaching

Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 successfully underwent a second depowering operation in the wee hours of Sunday. With this, the final step is a powered descent towards the south pole of the moon.

India’s third mission in its lunar exploration series was successfully launched on July 14 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota. The spacecraft, which entered lunar orbit on August 5, is scheduled to make a soft landing on the lunar surface on August 23.

LATEST UPDATES

– The lander module undergoes a second and final de-powering procedure

Chandrayaan-3’s Lander Module successfully underwent its second and final deboost operation on Sunday. This has now reduced the LM orbit to 25 km x 134 km.

Following this, ISRO posted on microblogging site X: “The module is undergoing internal checks and is awaiting sunrise at the designated landing site.”

Chandrayaan-3 is scheduled to begin an electronic descent at 5:45 PM on August 23.

– India’s Chandrayaan-3 vs Russia’s Luna-25; The latter reports a technical fault

Russia’s Luna-25, which was launched on August 10, is scheduled to land on August 21, while India’s third lunar mission is scheduled to make a soft landing on the moon’s south pole on August 23, two days after the Russian spacecraft. Luna-25 joined Chandrayaan-3 in lunar orbit on August 16.

On Saturday, the Russian lunar mission Luna-25 reported a technical glitch before the pre-lunar stage, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said.

“During the operation, an emergency situation occurred at the automatic station, which did not allow the maneuver to be carried out under the specified conditions,” Roscosmos said in a statement.

– Lander Module First Deboosting Successful, LM Health Normal

ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram Lander successfully completed its first deboost mission at 4:00 PM on August 18, reducing the module’s orbit to 113 km x 157 km.

ISRO posted on X, erstwhile Twitter – after deboost – Lander’s health was normal.

– ISRO sharing view with Lander Imager (LI) camera 1

The Indian Space Research Organization shared a video of the view from the Lander Imager (LI) Camera-1 on microblogging site X.

The view was captured by the LI camera immediately after the Lander module separated from the main module.

The space agency also shared images of the Moon captured by the Lander Position Detection Camera (LPDC) on August 15.

– Vikram Lander separates from the propulsion module

Another box was ticked on Chandrayaan-3’s list of milestones when the Lander Module carrying the rover inside successfully separated from the Propulsion Module on August 17.

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) posted on X “Thanks for the ride, mate! said the Lander Module (LM). The LM has been successfully separated from the Propulsion Module (PM). The LM is scheduled to descend into a slightly lower orbit tomorrow after a scheduled boost at around 1600 IST .”

– ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 final maneuver completed

India’s third lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3, successfully completed its fifth and final flight on 16 August. This brought the task closer to its completion, which was scheduled for August 23rd.

After the final maneuver, the mission prepared to separate the Lander Module from the Main Module.

In X, ISRO said, “Today’s successful launch, which is needed for a short period of time, has placed Chandrayaan-3 in a 153 km x 163 km orbit as intended. This completes the Moon-bound maneuvers. It’s time to prepare, as the Propulsion Module and Lander Module prepare for their separate journeys.”