Sanskrit meaning “moon craft” is Chandrayaan-3, an Indian spacecraft that was launched on July 14 from Sriharikota, India’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre. (AP) The lunar orbit is lowered by Chandrayaan 3. What’s next for a gentle landing on the moon? The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft successfully completed a planned orbit reduction operation on Sunday, decreasing its lunar orbit and bringing it one step closer to its gentle landing. According to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), the third lunar mission ship for India is in good health.
“The retrofitting of engines brought it closer to the Moon’s surface, now to 170 km x 4,313 km,” according to the Chandrayaan-3 tracker. The following procedure to further shrink the orbit is planned for August 9 between 13:00 and 14:00 IST, according to a post made by the ISRO on the social media site X on Sunday. The flawless completion of the Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI), which placed Chandrayaan-3 in the moon’s orbit and out of Earth’s gravity, on Saturday, marked an important milestone for the mission.
What is the current orbit of the spacecraft, Chandrayaan-3?
The spacecraft’s current orbit is 170 km by 4,313 km thanks to the refit of its engines, according to the Chandrayaan-3 tracker. The next procedure to further decrease the orbit is planned for August 9 between 13:00 and 14:00 IST, the ISRO announced on Sunday on the social networking site X. With the successful completion of the Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) on Saturday, which put Chandrayaan-3 in the moon’s orbit and out of Earth’s gravity, the mission reached an important milestone.
Aside from doing so in Martian orbit, this is the third time in a row that ISRO has successfully put its spacecraft into lunar orbit. In the meantime, the space agency released the first photos of the moon taken by Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar mission, on Sunday.
Milestones of the Chandrayaan-3 mission: a timeline
On July 6, ISRO announced that Mission Chandrayaan-3 would take off from the second launch pad at Sriharikota on July 14. Tests on the electrical systems of vehicles were successful on July 7. On July 11, a thorough 24-hour “Launch Rehearsal” that replicated the full launch process came to an end. Chandrayaan-3 was triumphantly launched into orbit on July 14 by the LVM3 M4 vehicle.
On July 15, Earthbound Firing-1, the first orbit-raising maneuver, was successfully carried out at ISTRAC/ISRO in Bengaluru. The spacecraft arrived at an orbit of 41762 km by 173 km.
On July 17, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft successfully completed the second orbit-raising manoeuvre, placing it in an orbit that measured 41603 km x 226 km.
On July 22, the fourth orbit-raising procedure was successfully completed, and the spacecraft was placed in a 71351 km by 233 km orbit after firing its perigee towards Earth.
On July 25, another successful orbit-raising maneuver was carried out. On August 1, Chandrayaan-3 entered a trans lunar orbit, achieving a 288 km x 369328 km orbit, marking an important milestone. On August 5, Chandrayaan-3 achieved a significant victory by successfully entering the lunar orbit and achieving the desired orbital size of 164 km by 18074 km.
On August 6, the orbit of the spacecraft around the moon is decreased to 170 km x 4,313 km. What will the Chandrayaan-3 mission entail? A series of maneuvers are planned as the mission progresses to eventually place Chandrayaan-3 in a 100-kilometer lunar orbit and line it up with the lunar poles. An exact landing location close to the moon’s South Pole will be chosen during the following ten days. The propulsion module will then separate from the lander while it is in orbit. The lander will then make an attempt at a soft landing after descending from orbit. When will Chandrayaan-3 touch down?
Then, on August 23, at 5:47 p.m., a series of complex braking techniques will be carried out to enable a soft touchdown in the South Polar Zone of the Moon.
ISRO is keeping a tight eye on the lunar landing timeline, taking into account things like the moon’s sunrise. The landing might be moved to September if necessary. The Chandrayaan-3 mission of India moves closer to an unparalleled lunar landing feat with each milestone attained.
