ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 has successfully completed orbits around Earth and is now on its way to the moon. The spacecraft was injected into the translunar orbit after a successful perigee-firing at ISTRAC. The Lunar-Orbit Insertion (LOI) is scheduled for August 5, 2023. Following that, four orbit manoeuvres will be conducted to position the spacecraft about 100 km from the Moon’s surface in its final orbit.
Previously, the spacecraft’s orbit was increased five times after its launch on July 14. On July 25, the fifth and final orbit-raising manoeuvre was completed.
Chandrayaan-3 is expected to reach the Moon’s South Pole for a soft landing with a lander and rover by August 23-24. If successful, India will become the fourth country to achieve a lunar surface landing, following the United States, Russia, and China.
The lander, named ‘Vikram,’ will deploy four scientific payloads to study the moon’s surface temperature and characteristics beneath the surface. Meanwhile, the 6-wheeled Rover ‘Pragyan’ will explore the moon for 14 days using chemical tests and will transmit images back to Earth, powered by its solar panel-charged battery.
