Chandrayaan-3 LIVE: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has shared new updates on its historic mission Chandrayaan-3 as the spacecraft inches closer to the Moon gradually. Chandrayaan-3 will make its first attempt at soft-landing to the Moon’s south pole region on 23 August. At present, the Lander module of Chandrayaan-3, comprising Vikram lander and Pragyan rover, after a successful deboosting, reduced their orbit to 113 km x 157 km. The second deboosting operation is scheduled for August 20, 2023, around 2 PM.
Launched on 14 July this year, Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.
Read all the latest updates about Chandrayaan-3 at Mint’s LIVE blog:
Chandrayaan-3 LIVE: Key things to know about the lunar mission
- It has been a month and four days since ISRO launched the Chandrayaan-3 mission on July 14. Chandrayaan, which means “moon vehicle” in Sanskrit, was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota.
- The approved cost of Chandrayaan-3 is ₹250 crore (excluding launch vehicle cost).
- Chandrayaan-3 is equipped with a a 2-metre-(6.6-foot)-tall lander, a rover, and a propulsion module. It weighs around 3,900 kilograms.
- The lander is designed to deploy a rover on Moon’s surface. The mission life is 1 lunar day, that is 14 Earth days
Chandrayaan-3 LIVE updates: Vikram lander captures stunning video of Moon
ISRO has released a short video of the Moon, captured by Chandrayaan-3’s Lander Position Detection Camera onboard spacecraft on 15 August 2023.
Chandrayaan-3 Latest news: What does deboosting mean?
The deboosting of the lander module of Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft means the process of slowing down of the lander to an orbit where the Perilune (the orbit’s closest point to the Moon) and Apolune (farthest point from the Moon) are only a few kilometres away from the spacecraft. The deboosting will help in the soft landing on the Moon.
Chandrayaan-3 LIVE updates: 2nd deboosting of Vikram lander on 20 August
The second deboosting of the lander module of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft will take place on 20 August, Sunday, ISRO said. The first deboosting took place on Friday evening.
The Lander Module of Chandrayaan-3 had successfully separated from the Propulsion Module on Thursday, 35 days after the satellite was launched on July
Chandrayaan-3 latest updates: Vikram lander only a few kilometres away from Moon
ISRO said that the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft’s Vikram lander underwent a deboosting operation that reduced its orbit to 113 km x 157 km. The health of the lander module, comprising the lander (Vikram) and the rover (Pragyan), is normal even after deboosting, the Indian space agency added.
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