India’s third Moon mission, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, underwent another manoeuvre on Monday to bring it closer to the Lunar surface, according to ISRO.
The national space agency announced that the spacecraft has now achieved a “near-circular orbit” around the Moon.
Since its launch on July 14, Chandrayaan-3 entered the lunar orbit on August 5, and two orbit reduction manoeuvres were performed on August 6 and 9.
“Orbit circularisation phase commences. Precise manoeuvre performed today has achieved a near-circular orbit of 150 km x 177 km,” stated ISRO in a tweet.
The next operation is scheduled for August 16, around 8:30 am.
ISRO is conducting a series of manoeuvres to gradually reduce Chandrayaan-3’s orbit and position it over the lunar poles as the mission progresses.
According to ISRO sources, another manoeuvre will be executed on August 16 to reach a 100 km orbit, allowing the landing module, consisting of the lander and rover, to detach from the propulsion module.
Subsequently, the lander is expected to undergo a “deboost” process and make a soft landing on the south polar region of the Moon on August 23.
Last week, ISRO Chairman S Somnath emphasized the challenges of the landing process, particularly the transition from horizontal to vertical direction, and the importance of proper fuel consumption, accurate distance calculation, and functioning algorithms.
Over the past three weeks, ISRO has executed five moves to gradually move the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft farther away from Earth since the July 14 launch.
On August 1, a crucial slingshot manoeuvre was successfully performed to direct the spacecraft from Earth’s orbit towards the Moon.
Chandrayaan-3 is a continuation of the Chandrayaan-2 mission, aiming to demonstrate safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.
It consists of an indigenous propulsion module, a lander module, and a rover to develop and demonstrate new technologies for inter-planetary missions.
The mission objectives include demonstrating a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface, conducting rover roving on the Moon, and performing in-situ scientific experiments.
The lander will have the capability to soft land at a designated lunar site and deploy the rover to conduct chemical analysis of the Moon’s surface during its mobility.
The lander and rover will carry scientific payloads to perform experiments on the lunar surface.
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