BENGALURU, August 14: India’s ambitious Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission reached another milestone as the spacecraft underwent an additional maneuver on Monday, bringing it into even closer proximity to the lunar surface, announced ISRO.
The national space agency, headquartered in Bengaluru, revealed that the spacecraft has successfully achieved a “near-circular orbit” around the Moon. Since its launch on July 14, Chandrayaan-3 entered the lunar orbit on August 5 and subsequently underwent two orbit reduction maneuvers on August 6 and 9.
ISRO tweeted, “Orbit circularisation phase commences. Precise maneuver performed today has achieved a near-circular orbit of 150 km x 177 km.”
The next operation is scheduled for August 16 at approximately 8:30 am, according to ISRO.
As the mission advances, ISRO is conducting a series of maneuvers to gradually reduce Chandrayaan-3’s orbit, positioning it over the lunar poles. An additional maneuver is planned for August 16 to transition the spacecraft to a 100 km orbit. Following this, the landing module, comprising the lander and rover, will detach from the propulsion module.
Subsequently, the lander is anticipated to undergo a “deboost” process, slowing its descent, and ultimately achieving a soft landing on the Moon’s south polar region on August 23.
Last week, ISRO Chairman S Somnath explained that the critical aspect of the landing involves altering the velocity of the lander from a 30 km altitude to the final landing point. He noted the challenge of transitioning the spacecraft from a horizontal to a vertical direction during this process.
Moreover, ensuring efficient fuel consumption, accurate distance calculations, and proper algorithm functioning are crucial elements.
“We have done a lot of simulations. It is here where we had the problem last time (Chandrayaan 2),” stated Somnath.
Chandrayaan-3’s journey has included various strategic moves since its July 14 launch. Notably, on August 1, a pivotal maneuver launched the spacecraft toward the Moon, escaping Earth’s orbit and setting it on a trajectory toward the lunar vicinity.
Chandrayaan-3 serves as a continuation of Chandrayaan-2, with the aim of demonstrating a comprehensive capability for safe lunar landing and rover exploration.
Comprising an indigenous propulsion module, lander module, and a rover, the mission focuses on developing and showcasing technologies required for interplanetary missions. The propulsion module will ferry the lander and rover configuration to a 100 km lunar orbit, equipped with the Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload for studying Earth’s spectral and polarimetric measurements from lunar orbit.
Chandrayaan-3’s objectives encompass safe and soft lunar landing, rover mobility on the Moon’s surface, and the execution of in-situ scientific experiments. The lander will have the capability to softly land at a designated lunar site and deploy the rover to conduct chemical analysis of the lunar surface during its mobility.
Both the lander and rover are equipped with scientific payloads to conduct experiments on the Moon’s surface.
