The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has achieved a significant milestone in India’s third moon mission, Chandrayaan-3. After inserting the spacecraft into lunar orbit, ISRO successfully conducted an orbit reduction manoeuvre, bringing it closer to the moon’s surface at 170 km x 4,313 km. ISRO announced that the next operation to further reduce the orbit is scheduled for August 9, 2023.
Over the course of three weeks since its launch on July 14, Chandrayaan-3 underwent several moves to gradually lift it into orbits farther away from Earth. There are three more moon-bound manoeuvres planned until August 17, after which the landing module, consisting of the lander and rover, will separate from the propulsion module.
Following the separation, de-orbiting manoeuvres will be conducted on the lander to prepare for the final descent onto the lunar surface. ISRO plans to attempt a soft landing on the moon’s surface on August 23.
Chandrayaan-3 serves as a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 and aims to showcase India’s capabilities in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. It comprises an indigenous propulsion module, a lander module, and a rover, demonstrating new technologies for inter-planetary missions.
The propulsion module carries the lander and rover configuration until reaching 100 km of lunar orbit. Additionally, the propulsion module houses a payload called Spectropolarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE), designed to study the spectral and polarimetric measurements of Earth from the lunar orbit.
The lander possesses the capability for a soft landing at a designated lunar site and will deploy the rover to conduct in-situ chemical analysis of the moon’s surface during its mobility. Both the lander and rover carry scientific payloads to perform experiments on the lunar surface, further advancing our understanding of the moon and paving the way for future space exploration endeavors.
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