 "Chandrayaan-3: Vikram lander to separate from propulsion module today")
Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander is scheduled to separate from the spacecraft's propulsion module today. The lander and the rover, Pragyaan, will attempt the landing on the south pole of the Moon on August 23.
On Wednesday, the Chandrayaan-3 mission hit another mark when its spacecraft successfully underwent a fifth and final lunar-bound orbit manoeuvre, which brought it even closer to the surface of the Moon.
With this, the spacecraft has completed all of its Moon-bound manoeuvres, and it will now prepare for the separation of the lander module -- comprising the lander and rover -- from the propulsion module.
"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 manoeuvres are completed. It's time for preparations as the Propulsion Module and the Lander Module gear up for their separate journeys," the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
It also added that the separation of the lander module is planned for August 17.
Chandrayaan-3: Journey so far
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Following its launch on July 14, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft entered into lunar orbit on August 5, following which orbit reduction manoeuvres were carried out on August 6, 9 and 14.
As the mission progressed, a series of manoeuvres were conducted by ISRO to gradually reduce Chandrayaan-3's orbit and position it over the lunar poles.
Isro Chandrayaan-3 landing date
After separation, the lander is expected to undergo a "deboost" (the process of slowing down) to place it in an orbit where the Perilune (closest point to the Moon) is 30 kilometres and Apolune (farthest point from the Moon) is 100 km.
Chandrayaan-3 will attempt to land on the moon's south pole on August 23.
Chandrayaan 3 news: 'Have done a lot of simulations'
The space agency's chairman S Somanath recently said that the most critical part of the landing is the process of bringing down the velocity of the lander when it begins its descent from a height of 30 km to the final landing (position) and that the ability to transfer the spacecraft from horizontal to the vertical direction is the "trick we have to play" here.
"The velocity at the start of the landing process is almost 1.68 km per second, but this speed is horizontal to the surface of the moon. The Chandrayaan-3 here is tilted almost 90 degrees. It has to become vertical. So, this whole process of turning from horizontal to vertical is a very interesting calculation mathematically. We have done a lot of simulations. It is here where we had the problem last time (Chandrayaan-2)," Somanath explained.
Further, he said that it has to be ensured that fuel consumption is less, the distance calculation is correct, and all the algorithms are working properly.
"Extensive simulations have been done, guidance designs have been changed, and a lot of algorithms have been put in place to make sure that in all these phases the required dispersions are handled...to attempt to make a proper landing," he added.
Chandrayaan-3 vs Luna 25
Isro's Chandrayaan-3 is in a race with Roscosmons' Luna-25 for landing on the moon. Both missions will attempt landing on the south pole of the Moon on August 23. The country that is able to land successfully will become the first one to land on the distant pole of the Moon.
(With agency inputs)