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Chandrayaan 3 mission is in its most critical phase now with the soft landing attempt only 5 days away. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Friday announced that the Vikram Lander Module of Chandrayaan 3 successfully completed a ‘deboosting’ operation that reduced its orbit to 113 km x 157 km, the second deorbit move is scheduled for Sunday, around 2am.
Chandrayaan 3 mission: What will happen next?
The former ISRO scientist and Padma Shri awardee Mylswamy Annadurai explained that the major event is the 4800 Newton thrusters of the Vikram lander fired to take it to the lower orbit in two steps, placing it in a 30-kilometre orbit.
He further said that the position of the module has to be ascertained properly. So then from the 30 kilometre onwards, how to move, how to thrust fire, what orientation to fire, and how to reduce the velocity in the horizontal and vertical direction. “And while doing it, it has to make sure that it is going on the proper path. So already loaded pictures of the lunar terrain will be there. Check against that and try to identify the place where it’s supposed to land,” Annadurai told ANI.
Chandrayaan-3 mission detailed timeline
Here is the detailed timeline of all the developments in the Chandrayaan 3 mission till today and all others that will be undertaken in the next few days.
• July 6: ISRO announces Mission Chandrayaan-3 launch date of July 14 from Sriharikota’s second pad.
• July 7: Successful vehicle electrical tests completed.
• July 11: Comprehensive 24-hour ‘Launch Rehearsal’ simulating the entire launch process concludes.
• July 14: LVM3 M4 vehicle launches Chandrayaan-3 into designated orbit.
• July 15: First orbit-raising manoeuvre successful, reaching 41762 km x 173 km orbit.
• July 17: Second orbit-raising manoeuvre places Chandrayaan-3 at 41603 km x 226 km orbit.
• July 22: Fourth orbit-raising manoeuvre establishes spacecraft in 71351 km x 233 km orbit.
• July 25: Another successful orbit-raising manoeuvre.
• August 1: Chandrayaan-3 inserted into translunar orbit (288 km x 369328 km).
• August 5: Successful lunar orbit insertion (164 km x 18074 km).
• August 6: Lunar orbit lowered to 170 km x 4,313 km.
• August 9: ISRO carefully moves the spacecraft’s path lower in its orbit around the moon. It has achieved a lunar orbit of 174 km x 1437 km
• August 14: Chandrayaan-3 gets closer to the moon’s surface in another controlled bringing it in a orbit of 150 km x 177 km
• August 16: The Indian spacecraft performs the fifth and final Moon-bound manoeuvre positioning itself in a near circular Lunar orbit of 163*153 km.
• August 17: The landing module, comprising the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover, gets separated from its propulsion system.
• August 18: Chandrayaan 3 successfully completed a ‘deboosting’ operation that reduced its orbit to 113 km x 157 km
• August 20: The Chandrayaan-3 will make the final orbit adjustment by reducing it to be around 100*30 km, the farthest and nearest point from the moon respectively.
• August 23: If everything goes well, planned lunar touchdown attempt at 5:47pm where the spacecraft will travel the last 30km distance.
However, for the mission to succeed, it is important to land on moon at the dawn so that it can undertake the research for 14 Earth days, after which there will be night on the moon, pushing the temperature below the tolerance limit of the rover. In the converse case, ISRO may change the landing date to the next available slot of September.
Chandrayaan 3 mission main objective is to perform experiments on the lunar surface for one lunar day or 14 Earth days.
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