Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter and Lander Establish Communication and Exchange Greetings

A major breakthrough occurred on Monday as the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, previously positioned around the moon, successfully established a two-way communication link with the lander module of Chandrayaan-3.

“”Welcome, mate!” The Ch-2 orbiter formally welcomed the Ch-3 LM (Landing Module). Two-way communication between the two has been established. MOX (Mission Operations Complex) now has more routes to reach the LM” , ISRO wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Chandrayaan-3 is scheduled to land on the Moon on August 23, 2023 at around 6:04 PM IST.

Live action will be available on ISRO’s website, its YouTube channel, Facebook and broadcaster DD National TV from 23.08.2023 at 17:27 IST.

Ahead of the long-awaited soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 at the Moon’s south pole, former Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) director and director of the previous Moon mission Chandrayaan-2 K Sivan on Monday said the mission will be a “huge success”.

“It’s a very nerve-wracking moment… I’m sure this time it will be a big success,” Sivan said while talking to ANI.

“We have our own system and we plan to build a soft bill without any problems. But it’s a complicated process,” he said when asked if it would have any impact after the failure of Russia’s Luna-25 mission. Russia’s lunar mission failed after its Luna-25 spacecraft spun out of control and crashed into the moon on Sunday.

He said corrective measures have been taken after going through the data generated by the Chandrayaan-2 mission. When asked if these additional systems were also original, Sivan replied: “Everything is original.”

Earlier today, ISRO released images of the far side of the moon using the Lander Hazard Detection and Avoidance Camera (LHDAC). This camera helps locate a safe landing area – free of boulders or deep pits – during landing.

Notably, the spacecraft’s Vikram landing module successfully separated from the propulsion module recently, followed by important deboost maneuvers and a descent into a slightly lower orbit. The lander of the Chandrayaan-3 mission is named after Vikram Sarabhai (1919–1971), widely regarded as the father of India’s space program.

The spacecraft, which was placed into lunar orbit on August 5, was launched using a GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy launch vehicle and has since gone through a series of orbital maneuvers that have brought it closer to the lunar surface. .

It has been one month and seven days since the Indian Space Research Organization launched the Chandrayaan-3 mission on July 14. The spacecraft was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

The stated objectives of Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar mission, are safe and soft landing, lunar surface locomotion and in situ scientific experiments.

The approved price of Chandrayaan-3 is ₹ 250 (excluding the cost of the launcher).

The development phase of Chandrayaan-3 began in January 2020 and the launch was planned sometime in 2021. However, the Covid-19 pandemic brought an unexpected delay to the progress of the mission.

Chandrayaan-2’s key scientific results include the first-ever global sodium map of the moon, increased information on crater size distribution, unambiguous detection of lunar surface water ice by the IIRS instrument, and more.

The Moon serves as an archive of Earth’s past, and India’s successful lunar mission will help increase life on Earth while enabling its exploration in the rest of the Solar System and beyond.