CHENNAI, July 18:
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on Tuesday said the third Lunar Mission Chandrayaan-3 mission was on schedule and that it has successfully performed the third Orbit raising maneuver. The spacecraft has attained a 51400 km x 228 km orbit, as planned.
Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft was launched from the Sriharikota on Friday. After the first orbit raising manoeuvre (Earthbound firing-1), was performed by the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru, the second orbit-raising maneuver (Earth- bound apogee firing) was performed successfully on Monday and the third maneuver (Earth-bound perigee firing) was done today.
The spacecraft has attained a 51400 km x 228 km orbit, as planned. The next firing is planned for July 20 between 2 pm and 3 pm. ISRO said the spacecraft’s health is normal. In a tweet, ISRO said “Chandrayaan-3 Mission is on schedule.” “The third orbit-raising maneuver (Earth-bound perigee firing) is performed successfully from ISTRAC/ISRO, Bengaluru”, it said. “The next firing is planned for July 20 between 2 and 3 pm IST. ISRO @isro?”, it added. “The spacecraft has attained a 51400 km x 228 km orbit, as planned”, ISRO said. ISRO has planned the trans lunar insertion of Chandrayaan-3 for August 1.
The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft was successfully launched by ISRO’s heaviest launch vehicle LVM3-M4 and after a flight duration of about 16 minutes, it was precisely placed in an elliptic parking orbit of 36,500 km x 170 km. ISRO is planning the technically challenging soft landing of the Chandryaaan-3 spacecraft in the lunar surface at 5.47 p.m. on August 23, ISRO Chairman S.Somanath said after the launch at Sriharikota.
The Chandrayaan-3 consists of an indigenous lander module (LM), propulsion module (PM), and a rover with the objective of developing and demonstrating new technologies required for future inter-planetary missions.
The success of Chandrayaan-3 will make it the surface mission closest to the lunar south pole to date, a region of the moon that has been found to be geologically unique and host to spots in permanent shadow. A perfect soft landing on the Moon’s surface will make India the fourth country to accomplish this feat, thereby joining a select group of spacefaring nations.
Only USA, the then Soviet Union and China have achieved this feat. India too nearly achieved in its maiden attempt when it launched Chandryaan-2 in July 2019, before the lander crash landed very close to the landing spot, making the mission about 99.99 per cent success. (PTI)
Through Chandrayaan-3 mission, ISRO is crossing new frontiers by demonstrating soft landing on lunar surface by its lunar module and demonstrate roving on the lunar terrain. It is expected to be supportive to ISRO’s future interplanetary missions.
ISRO said Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. (UNI)
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