Chandrayaan-3 Mission: Deboost operation done, soft landing on August 23. Here's what has happened in space so far

Chandrayaan-3 Mission: The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on Sunday said that it has successfully reduced the orbit of the Chandrayaan-3 mission's lander module, which indicates that the Indian spacecraft is now expected to touch down on the surface of the Moon at 6.04 pm on August 23. 

However, the lander module would undergo internal checks ahead of the planned soft landing on the moon. The lander module (LM) comprises the lander ‘Vikram' and rover ‘Pragyan’. 

According to the space agency, the second and final deboosting operation has successfully reduced the LM orbit to 25 km x 134 km, and now, the module would undergo internal checks and await sunrise at the designated landing site.

This eagerly anticipated event will be broadcast live on August 23, starting from 17:27 Hrs IST on multiple platforms, including the ISRO Website, its YouTube channel, ISRO's Facebook page, and DD National TV channel, PTI reported. 

After its launch on July 14, Chandrayaan-3 entered into lunar orbit on August 5, following which orbit reduction maneuvers were carried out on the spacecraft on August 6, 9, 14, and 16, ahead of the separation of both its modules on August 17. 

On Thursday, 35 days after the mission was launched, the lander module of Chandrayaan-3 had successfully separated from the propulsion module. 

Following the separation process, the lander underwent the ‘deboost’ operations to place it in an orbit where when it's at a point closest to the Moon (Perilune) it would be at a distance of 30 kilometers and at its farthest point from the Moon (Apolune) it would be 100 km away.

At this point, the soft landing on the south-polar region of the Moon will be attempted. At around 30 km altitude, the lander enters the powered braking phase and begins to use its thrusters to reach the surface of the Moon, ISRO said as quoted by PTI. 

At an altitude of about 100 m, the lander would scan the surface to check whether there are any obstacles and then start descending to make a soft landing.

On August 1, in a key maneuver -- a slingshot move -- the spacecraft was sent successfully toward the Moon from Earth's orbit. Following this trans-lunar injection, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft escaped from orbiting the Earth and began following a path that would take it to the vicinity of the Moon, as per PTI reports. 

Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 and seeks to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. 

The mission objectives of Chandrayaan-3 are to achieve a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface, to demonstrate the rover's mobility on the Moon, and to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.

(With PTI inputs)