Chandrayaan 3 LIVE updates: The Lander Module, which includes Vikram and Pragyan, was detached from the Propulsion Module on Thursday, marking another milestone in India’s third lunar mission’s gentle landing on the Moon’s south pole.
ISRO said the lander will undergo a “deboost” (slowing down) after separation to position itself in an orbit with a Perilune (closest point to the Moon) of 30 km and an Apolune of 100 km. From here, a soft landing on the Moon’s south pole will be attempted on August 23. The Propulsion Module will collect scientific data in its present orbit for months or years.
Follow Chandrayaan 3 LIVE updates here:
Aug 18, 2023, at 11:37 AM IST
Live Chandrayaan 3: Vikram lander will conduct crucial maneuver today
After separating from the propulsion module a day earlier, Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander will deboost on Friday.
The deboosting maneuver is slated for 1600 IST today.
Deboosting slows down to put itself in an orbit with a 30 km Perilune and 100 km Apolune from the Moon.
Aug 18, 2023, at 11:26 AM IST
Chandrayaan 3 launch video: Review the historic launch
The third Indian lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3, launched from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Union Science and Technology Minister praised ISRO chairman and team. P. Veeramuthuvel, the Project Director, was speechless following the historic launch. ISRO Chief S. Somanath supported “emotional” project director Veeramuthuvel on stage.
Aug 18, 2023, at 11:14 AM IST
Chandrayaan-3 news: Future lunar exploration programs
The SLIM-JAXA Lunar Lander (Launch: August 26, 2023):
• Peregrine Mission 1—NASA CLPS Lunar Lander (2023 Launch):
• NASA CLPS Lunar Lander IM-1 (2023 Launch):
Lunar Trailblazer (NASA Lunar Orbiting Small Satellite, Launch: 2023):
The NASA CLPS Lunar Lander (Prime 1) launched in November 2023.
Griffin Mission 1—VIPER—NASA Lunar South Pole Rover (Launch: November 2024):
• 2024 Launch: Intuitive Machines 3—NASA Lunar Lander and Rovers
• NASA Lunar Lander Blue Ghost 1 (2023):
• Chang’e 6—CNSA Lunar Sample Return Mission (2024)
Aug 18, 2023, at 11:02 AM IST
Live Chandrayaan 3 news: All ISRO moon mission updates are here.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission chronology
• July 6: ISRO announces July 14 launch of Mission Chandrayaan-3 from Sriharikota’s second pad.
• July 7: Vehicle electrical testing pass.
A 24-hour ‘Launch Rehearsal’ simulates the whole launch sequence on July 11.
• July 14: LVM3 M4 launches Chandrayaan-3.
• July 15: First orbit-raising maneuver achieves 41762 km x 173 km orbit.
July 17: Chandrayaan-3’s second orbit-raising maneuver positions it at 41603 km x 226 km.
• July 22: Fourth orbit-raising maneuver places spacecraft in 71351 km x 233 km orbit.
Another successful orbit-raising maneuver on July 25.
• August 1: Chandrayaan-3 enters translunar orbit (288 km x 369328 km).
Successful lunar orbit insertion (164 km x 18074 km) on August 5.
August 6: Lunar orbit decreased to 170 km x 4,313 km.
• August 9: ISRO cautiously lowers the spacecraft’s lunar orbit. It orbits the moon at 174 km x 1437 km.
August 14: Chandrayaan-3 enters a 150 km x 177 km orbit around the moon in another controlled approach.
• August 16: The Indian spacecraft completes its fifth and final Moon maneuver, entering a 163*153 kilometer near-circular orbit.
The Vikram lander and Pragyan rover separated from the landing module on August 17.
• Chandrayaan-3 will reduce its orbit to 100*30 kilometers, the furthest and nearest point from the moon, during the following three days.
• August 23: Spacecraft will travel 30km to land on the moon at 5:47pm if everything goes well.
