Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander is set to undergo a crucial deboosting manoeuvre after successfully getting separate from the propulsion module a day before. The deboosting manoeuvre is schedule on 18th August, 2023 at around 1600 IST.
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.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission’s lander is name after Vikram Sarabhai (1919–1971), who is widely regard as the father of the Indian space programme.
The spacecraft carried out the final lunar-bound orbit reduction manoeuvre of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, a week ahead of its scheduled landing on the south pole of the moon on 23rd August 2023.
A GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle was use for the launch of the spacecraft that was place in the lunar orbit on 5th August 2023 and since then it has through a series of orbital manoeuvres.
It has a month and three days since the Indian Space Research Organisation launch the Chandrayaan-3 mission on 14th July 2023.
The spacecraft was launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota.
ISRO is bidding to make a successful soft landing on the moon, which will make India the fourth country in the world to achieve the feat after the United States, Russia, and China.
The said objectives of Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar mission, are safe and soft landing, rover roving on the moon’s surface, and in-situ scientific experiments.
The approve cost of Chandrayaan-3 is Rs. 250 crores (excluding launch vehicle cost).
Chandrayaan-3’s development phase commenced in January 2020 with the launch plan sometime in 2021.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), S Somanath last week express confidence in the progress of the Chandrayaan 3, providing reassurance that all systems were operating as planned.
Chairman S Somanath said :
“Everything is going fine now. There will be a series of manoeuvres until it lands (on the Moon) on 23rd August. The satellite is healthy.”
Moon serves as a repository of the Earth’s past and a successful lunar mission by India will help enhance life on Earth while also enabling it to explore the rest of the solar system and beyond.
As per history, spacecraft missions to the Moon have primarily target the equatorial region due to its favourable terrain and operating conditions.
So, the lunar south pole presents a vastly different and more challenging terrain compare to the equatorial region.
ISRO Releases New Images of the Moon Capture by Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram Lander
ISRO release a set of visuals of the Moon capture by cameras position on the Lander Module of Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft.
The images, capture after the separation of the Lander Module from the Propulsion Module of the spacecraft on 17th August 2023, show the craters on the Moon’s surface that were mark on the photographs release by ISRO as ‘Fabry‘, ‘Giordano Bruno‘ and ‘Harkhebi J‘.
ISRO Releases New Images of the Moon Captured by Chandrayaan-3's Vikram Lander | 2YoDoINDIA News Network
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The Lander Module comprising the lander (Vikram) and the rover (Pragyan) will on 18th August 2023 be lower into an orbit that takes it closer to the Moon’s surface for the soft landing on the Lunar south pole on 23rd August 2023.
ISRO said that Chandrayaan-3’s Lander Module had successfully undergone a deboosting (slowing down) operation taking it closer to the Moon, and that its health is normal.
The Lander Module of Chandrayaan-3 had successfully separate from the Propulsion Module on 17th August 2023, 35 days after the satellite was launch on 14th July 2023.
