BENGALURU: A day after it separated from the propulsion module, the landing module, comprising Vikram (the lander) and Pragyan (the rover) performed the first deboost manoeuvre on Friday, getting even closer to the lunar surface ahead of the planned landing on August 23.
"The Lander Module (LM) health is normal. LM successfully underwent a deboosting operation that reduced its orbit to 113 km x 157 km. The second deboosting operation is scheduled for August 20, 2023, around 0200 Hrs. IST," Isro said on X (formerly Twitter).
On Thursday, Vikram, with Pragyan sitting inside,
had separated from the propulsion module to which it was attached from pre-launch time.
Five days from now, on August 23, Vikram will have to reach a Perilune (closest point to Moon) of around 30km, from where the final landing will be attempted. Meanwhile, the propulsion module continues to orbit around the Moon.
Chandrayaan-3 was launched on July 14 and injected into the intended elliptical orbit around Earth. A day after that, Isro completed the first orbit-raising manoeuvre (Earthbound firing-1) putting the spacecraft into an orbit of 41,762km x 173km orbit.
The second Earth-bound manoeuvre was carried out on July 16. This was a minor operation compared to the first manoeuvre and was meant to stabilise the Perigee (closest point to Moon). At the end of that operation, Chandrayaan-3 was in an orbit of 41,603km x 226km.
On July 18, a successful third Earth-bound manoeuvre further increased the Apogee (farthest point from Earth) and put Chandrayaan-3 in an orbit of 51,400km x 228km. Two day later, on July 20, the second-last Earth-bound manoeuvre put the spacecraft in an orbit of 71,351km x 233km.
The Apogee was further increased to breach 1.2-lakh-km on July 25 with a successful final Earth-bound manoeuvre.
Six days after the last Earth-bound manoeuvre, Isro carried out the the trans-lunar injection (TLI) that put the spacecraft on the path to Moon, on August 1. At the end of TLI, Chandrayaan-3’s altitude was nearly 3.6-lakh-km.
And then, on August 5, the space agency performed the Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) and put Chandrayaan-3 into an elliptical orbit around Moon. At this juncture, the Perilune (closest point to Moon) was 164km and the Apolune (farthest point from Moon) was 18,074km.
The very next day, Isro completed the second lunar-bound manoeuvre and put the spacecarft into an orbit of 170km x 4,313 km.
On August 9, Isro said: “Chandrayaan-3’s orbit is reduced to 174km x 1437km”, following the third lunar-bound manoeuvre. Five days thereafter, the mission entered the orbit circularisation phase with the fourth lunar-bound manoeuvre on August 14, placing the spacecraft into an orbit of 151 km x 179 km orbit.
Then came Thursday’s separation manoeuvre, setting the stage for the planned landing (August 23).
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