Chandrayaan 3: Seven days to touch lunar surface

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With only few days to touch the moon, Chandrayaan 3 lowered its orbit again on Wednesday. It orbited 153 km close to the moon and 163 km away. The lander will separate from the propulsion module today. The aim is to land the lander on the moon, eject the rover from the lander and make contact with the lunar soil. The landing on the moon is expected on August 23 at 5.45 pm.

The orbit was lowered at 8 am yesterday morning. The spacecraft was in orbit at a distance of 173 km.

Lander separation is another critical step. The deboost process will put the lander into a long circular orbit about 30 km close to the moon and 100 km away. When it reaches a height of 30 km from the moon, the speed of the lander will slow down and stop vertically. Then it will descend slowly and steeply towards the moon.

Chandrayaan 3, which took off on July 14, reached its destination on the 33rd day yesterday. It is now 3.6 lakh km away from Earth.

Challenge

Landing safely on the moon, which has only one-sixth the gravity of Earth, is a huge challenge. Chandrayaan 2 crashed during this phase. ISRO is confident that Chandrayaan 3 will make a soft landing.

Four more steps

• The lander will separate from the propulsion module today.
• The lander will be deboosted and brought closer to the south pole
• Landing spot and the operation of signal motors
• Soft landing on the moon.