‘Chandrayaan-3 landing will be postponed to August 27 if…’: ISRO scientist

Chandrayaan 3: Ahead of the Chandrayaan-3 landing, Space Applications Centre-ISRO, Ahmedabad Director Nilesh M Desai has said that the landing of the Chandrayaan-3 will be postponed to August 27 if factors appear to be not favourable on August 23.

“On August 23, two hours before Chandrayaan-3 lands on the Moon, we will take a decision on whether or not it will be appropriate to land it at that time based on the health of the lander module and the conditions on the Moon. In case, if any factor appears to be not favourable, then we will land the module on the Moon on August 27. No problem should occur and we will be able to land the module on August 23,” the ISRO scientist said.

The Chandrayaan-3, India’s third mission to moon, is scheduled for landing on the lunar surface on August 23.

The spacecraft comprises a propulsion module (weighing 2,148 kg), a lander (1,723.89 kg) and a rover (26 kg).

Recently, the lander module got detached from the propulsion module and the latter is also circling the moon at an altitude of 25 km x 134 km.

“The systems of the propulsion module is being checked and would await the sunrise at the designated landing site. The powered descent is expected to commence on August 23, 2023, around 1745 Hrs. IST,” ISRO had said.

The lander carries the rover inside it and after landing on the moon, the rover is expected to roll down and do the scientific experiments assigned to it.

The primary communication channel will be the Mission Operations Complex at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bengaluru to Chandrayaan-3 Propulsion Module which in turn would talk to the lander and the rover.

According to ISRO, the lander is expected to set its foot near the South Pole of the moon on August 23, 2023 at around 6.04 p.m. The lander will descend to the moon from a height of about 100 km from the moon’s surface.

The main purpose of India’s third moon mission costing about Rs 600 crore is to land the lander softly on the moon.

Chandrayaan-2 mission was partial success

The Chandrayaan-2 mission failed as the lander called ‘Vikram’ crashed on to the moon.

The soft landing is a tricky issue as it involves a series of complex manoeuvres consisting of rough and fine braking.

Imaging of the landing site region prior to landing will be done for finding safe and hazard-free zones.

Subsequent to the soft landing, the six-wheeled rover will roll out and carry out experiments on the lunar surface for a period of one lunar day which is equal to 14 earth days.

Meanwhile, the propulsion module will go around the moon for some more period with its payload Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planetary Earth (SHAPE) doing its job.

Chandrayaan-3 fired off from earth surface on July 14

The Chandrayaan-3 was put into orbit on July 14 in a copybook style by India’s heavy-lift rocket LVM3.

The spacecraft completed orbiting around the earth and headed towards the moon on August 1.

On that day a successful perigee-firing performed at ISTRAC, the ISRO had injected the spacecraft into the translunar orbit.

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