Chandrayaan-3 captures first visuals of moon: Here’s all you need to know in 10 points

Chandrayaan has many critical events lined up, including earth-bound manoeuvres, insertion into the lunar orbit, separation of the lander, a set of deboost manoeuvres and a power descent phase for a soft landing, according to P Veeramuthuvel, project director of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft.

Here are 10 key points of the moon mission to note so far:

1. 01

   'MOX, ISTRAC, this is Chandrayaan-3. I am feeling lunar gravity'

   Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, which had been moving towards the moon for the last five days, entered the lunar orbit today and has now begun to circle around the moon. This is the third time that an Indian spacecraft has entered the lunar orbit. The previous two Chandrayaan missions had also reached this phase.

   “MOX, ISTRAC, this is Chandrayaan-3. I am feeling lunar gravity,” said a tweet from ISRO on Saturday evening, putting words to what must only be an electronic signal from the spacecraft to the Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC).

   Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
   “MOX, ISTRAC, this is Chandrayaan-3. I am feeling lunar gravity 🌖”
   🙂

   Chandrayaan-3 has been successfully inserted into the lunar orbit.

   A retro-burning at the Perilune was commanded from the Mission Operations Complex (MOX), ISTRAC, Bengaluru.

   The next… pic.twitter.com/6T5acwiEGb

   — ISRO (@isro) August 5, 2023

2. 02

   Chandrayaan-3 aims to become first mission to land near lunar South Pole

   Chandrayaan-3 has taken slightly less time to reach the lunar orbit compared to Chandrayaan-2, which reached this destination in 30 days.

   Hello! This is #Chandrayaan3 with a special update. I want to let everyone know that it has been an amazing journey for me so far and now I am going to enter the Lunar Orbit today (August 5, 2023) at around 19:00 hrs IST. To know where I am and what I'm doing, stay tuned!#ISRO… pic.twitter.com/3AJ8xq1xFF

   — LVM3-M4/CHANDRAYAAN-3 MISSION (@chandrayaan_3) August 5, 2023

   But Chandrayaan-3 will spend more time in the lunar orbit, before attempting the soft landing. It is attempting to become the first mission to land near the lunar south pole. Other missions have so far landed close to the moon’s equator.

3. 03

   July 25: Chandrayaan-3 completes 5th and final orbit-raising manoevure

   The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft completed its fifth and final orbit-raising manoeuvre on Tuesday, July 25, according to ISRO.
   The spacecraft is expected to attain an orbit of 127609 km x 236 km.

   Chandrayaan-3 Mission Update:

   The Fifth orbit-raising maneuver (Earth-bound perigee firing) for Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft has been performed successfully on July 25, 2023 at ISTRAC/ISRO, Bengaluru as planned, using the onboard propulsion system.

   The spacecraft has attained a…

   — LVM3-M4/CHANDRAYAAN-3 MISSION (@chandrayaan_3) July 29, 2023

4. 04

   July 20: 4th orbit-raising manoeuvre succeeds on International Moon Day

   ISRO announced on July 20 that the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft's fourth orbit-raising manoeuvre was successfully completed attaining an orbit of 71351 km x 233 km orbit, as intended.

   Chandrayaan-3 Mission Update:

   The Fourth orbit-raising maneuver (Earth-bound perigee firing) for Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft has been performed successfully on July 20, 2023 at ISTRAC/ISRO, Bengaluru as planned, using the onboard propulsion system.

   The spacecraft has attained a… pic.twitter.com/RpHpmapvkZ

   — LVM3-M4/CHANDRAYAAN-3 MISSION (@chandrayaan_3) July 29, 2023

5. 05

   July 18: 3rd orbit-raising manoeuvre successful

   ISRO confirmed the success of the third orbit-raising manoeuvre that happened between 2 and 3 PM IST on Tuesday, July 18. The spacecraft was 228 kilometres above the Earth at its closest and 51,400 kilometres at its farthest.

   Update: CHANDRAYAAN-3 MISSION

   The spacecraft has attained a 51400 km x 228 km orbit, as planned.#Chandrayaan3

   — LVM3-M4/CHANDRAYAAN-3 MISSION (@chandrayaan_3) July 18, 2023

6. 06

   July 17: 2nd orbit-raising maneuver (Earth-bound apogee firing) performed successfully

   The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft successfully completed its second orbit raising manoeuvre, putting it in a 41603 km x 226 km orbit around the Earth, said ISRO. The spacecraft's third firing should happen between 2 and 3 pm on Tuesday.

   Update: CHANDRAYAAN-3 MISSION

   The second orbit-raising maneuver (Earth-bound apogee firing) is performed successfully.

   The spacecraft is now in 41603 km x 226 km orbit.

   The next firing is planned for tomorrow between 2 and 3 pm IST.#Chandrayaan3 #ISRO #ISTRAC

   — LVM3-M4/CHANDRAYAAN-3 MISSION (@chandrayaan_3) July 17, 2023

7. 07

   July 15: First orbit-raising manoeuvre successfully performed

   Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation successfully performed the first orbit-raising manoeuvre of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on July 15, the space agency said. The health of the spacecraft was "normal", ISRO said then. Chandrayaan-3 was in orbit, which when closest to Earth is at 173 kilometres and farthest from Earth is at 41,762 km.

   Update: CHANDRAYAAN-3 MISSION

   The First orbit-raising maneuver (Earthbound firing-1) for Chandryaan-3 spacecraft has been performed successfully today (July 15, 2023) at ISTRAC, Bengaluru as planned, using the onboard propulsion system.

   Now the new orbit is 173 km X 41762 km.… pic.twitter.com/AEzDc0s29H

   — LVM3-M4/CHANDRAYAAN-3 MISSION (@chandrayaan_3) July 15, 2023

8. 08

   Near-perfect liftoff

   “I feel like my entire life’s work has been worthwhile for this one moment,” said S Mohana Kumar, ISRO’s mission director for the launch of Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the LMV3 rocket after the near-perfect liftoff.

   "The Chandrayaan-3 is going to give a quantum leap to India’s role in the global arena. The entire world is watching — what we learn from this mission will be important for the global scientific community at large," said Minister of State for Department of SpaceJitendra Singh to The Indian Express, speaking about the successful launch of the mission.

9. 09

   Chandryaan-3 spacecraft's 3 main parts

   The LVM-3 launch rocket separated from the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft shortly after the latter was injected into the right orbit around Earth. The spacecraft, which now makes its way to the Moon, has three main parts—the propulsion module and the lander module which also contains the rover module.

   

    

10. 10

    LVM3 M4 vehicle successfully launched Chandrayaan-3 into orbit

    India’s third mission to the moon — Chandrayaan-3 — took off successfully from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on July 14. With that path, the Vikram lander of the mission is expected to soft-land on the surface of the South Pole region of the Moon in about 42 days from launch, around August 25.