Chandrayaan-3 takes another step closer to Moon, enters lunar orbit

Chandrayaan-3 has successfully entered the lunar orbit, ISRO confirmed around 7.45 pm on Saturday (August 5).

All eyes were on the spacecraft, which was scheduled to enter the Moon’s orbit at 7 pm in a crucial stage in its journey. Till 7.45 pm, there was no update from ISRO even as many waited with bated breath on social media for some news. Finally, India’s space agency confirmed that Chandrayaan-3 had successfully entered the lunar orbit.

The next key operation — reduction of orbit — is scheduled for around 11 pm IST on August 6, ISRO said in a tweet. In another tweet, ISRO confirmed that all systems of Chandrayaan-3 are healthy.

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

Chandrayaan-3 has covered about two-thirds of the distance to the Moon since its launch on July 14. Termed the Lunar Orbit Injection (LOI), the key manoeuvre was scheduled to be performed when Chandrayaan-3 was at the closest point to the Moon (perilune), ISRO had said.

ISRO had said earlier that LOI would be challenging, as the negatively charged lunar dust sticks to most surfaces, disrupting, for instance, sensors’ performance.

Chandrayaan-3 Mission Update:

Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) maneuver was completed successfully today (August 05, 2023). With this, #Chandrayaan3 has been successfully inserted into a Lunar orbit.

The next Lunar bound orbit maneuver is scheduled tomorrow (August 06, 2023), around… pic.twitter.com/IC3MMDQMjU

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

So far, the health of India’s third lunar mission is normal, and a soft-landing on the lunar surface will be attempted on August 23, the Bengaluru-headquartered national space agency has said. If ISRO succeeds, India will be the fourth nation ever to ever achieve a soft landing on the Moon.

Also read: Chandrayaan-3: Four ways to go to the Moon

A soft-landing is when a spacecraft lands intact on the lunar surface instead of crashing. To date, only four countries — the former Soviet Union, the United States, China, and Israel — have tried soft-landings on the Moon. Only Israel failed.

India’s previous Chandrayaan-2 mission ended in a “hard landing” on the lunar surface on September 6, 2019. During the landing attempt, ISRO lost communication with the Vikram lander carrying the Pragyan rover.

However, the orbiter mission succeeded and remains operational. It has been orbiting the moon and gathering crucial scientific information.

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

After four years of inspection, review, and introspection, ISRO came up with the refurbished Chandrayaan-3 with several key upgrades to the mission.

On August 1, half a month after its launch, the ISRO injected Chandrayaan-3 into the translunar orbit. In simpler terms, the spacecraft escaped from orbiting the Earth and began following a path that would take it closer to the Moon.

Over five moves in the three weeks since its launch, ISRO lifted Chandrayaan-3 into orbits farther and farther away from Earth, and on August 1, in a “slingshot move”, sent it towards the Moon from the Earth’s orbit.

“Next stop: the moon. As it arrives at the moon, the Lunar-Orbit Insertion (LOI) is planned for August 5, 2023,” the ISRO had tweeted.

In 2008, India’s first Moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, definitively confirmed the presence of water on the Moon’s surface.

(With agency inputs)