Chandrayaan-3 closer to Moon, Lander set for separation today

After it separates from the Propulsion Module, the Lander will accomplish the rest of the journey to the Moon’s surface on its own.

Following the activation and testing of its on-board instruments, including the three scientific payloads, the Lander will carry out two orbit-reduction manoeuvres: first, to get into the circular 100×100 km orbit, and then further closer to the Moon in the 100×30 km orbit.

It is from this 100×30 km orbit that the Lander will, on August 23, begin its final descent for touchdown on the Moon.

It was in this final phase of descent, a few seconds before touchdown, that the Chandrayaan-2 had malfunctioned, resulting in its crash landing.

“It’s time for preparations as the Propulsion Module and the Lander Module gear up for their separate journeys,” the ISRO said in a statement.

Launched on July 14, Chandrayaan-3 entered lunar orbit on August 5.

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:

Today’s successful firing, needed for a short duration, has put Chandrayaan-3 into an orbit of 153 km x 163 km, as intended.

With this, the lunar bound maneuvres are completed.

It’s time for preparations as the Propulsion Module and the Lander Module… pic.twitter.com/0Iwi8GrgVR

— ISRO (@isro) August 16, 2023

With lessons learnt from Chandrayaan-2, the ISRO has made several changes to the Lander, with ISRO chairman, S Somanath, saying the space agency had taken a “failure-based approach” while designing it.

“We have looked at all that can go wrong and how we can prevent it,” he said earlier.

In Chandrayaan-2, the Propulsion Module functioned as the Orbiter, carrying the lander and rover into lunar orbit.

Having functioned normally, with the instruments on board carrying out all the observations and experiments as intended, there was no need for an Orbiter component in Chandrayaan-3.

However, the Lander Module still needed to be transported to lunar orbit, and the Propulsion Module had this limited task to perform.

Although its main job now will be accomplished once the Lander separates, the Propulsion Module, equipped with one instrument, will however continue to collect data for a few months.