New Delhi: India’s third moon mission Chandrayaan-3’s lander Vikram has successfully undergone a “deboosting” operation, space agency ISRO shared Friday, adding the lander had now moved closer to the moon.
“Deboosting” is the critical process of slowing down to position Vikram in an orbit closest to the moon – from which it will attempt to land.
Vikram’s health was normal, ISRO posted on X, adding that its orbit was now reduced to 113 kilometres by 157 kilometres.
The agency said the second “deboosting” operation was scheduled for 2 am on 20 August.
On Thursday, Vikram had successfully separated from the propulsion module to continue its journey towards the moon for next week’s soft-landing.
Manoeuvres like Friday’s will eventually put Vikram in an orbit where the Perilune (closest point to the moon) is 30 kilometres and the Apolune (farthest point from the moon) is 100 kilometres. The final landing will be attempted from this orbit.
Another tricky move would be before the final descent when Vikram’s horizontal orientation – it is now whizzing parallel to the moon – will be changed to a vertical one to help the touchdown.
After it successfully settles on the lunar south pole, Vikram will release the rover Pragyaan on the moon’s surface.
Both Vikram and Pragyan are expected to function for one lunar day or 14 earth days, beyond which the lack of sunlight will cause the mission to lose power and the extreme cold of the lunar night will throttle its structure and equipment.
The Vikram lander, which is 8 ft 4 in × 6 ft 7 in × 3 ft 11, carries several payloads, among them the Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) to measure the thermal conductivity and temperature, Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) to measure seismic activities around the landing site, and Langmuir Probe (LP) to estimate the moon’s surface plasma density and its variations.
The previous attempt to land Vikram and Pragyaan failed during the Chandrayaan-2 mission in September 2019, as it could not reduce speed and crashed on the moon’s surface.
After its launch on July 14, Chandrayaan-3 will demonstrate India’s end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. With this mission, India aims to become the fourth country in the world to achieve this feat, joining the ranks of the United States, erstwhile USSR, and China.
Also read: ‘Thanks for the ride,’ Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander successfully separates from spacecraft