Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft only 1,400 km away from moon: ISRO

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday informed that the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft moved closer to the Moon's surface after it underwent another orbit reduction maneuver. Currently, it is at 1,437km at Apolune (the farthest point from Moon). 

The Indian spacecraft first entered the lunar orbit on August 5 and will drop to the 100 km orbit by next week, ISRO said in an official statement. 

ISRO will lead the vessel through two more orbit maneuvers on August 14 and 15 to bring Chandrayaan-3 significantly closer to the moon's surface. Following this, the landing module - comprising the lander and rover - will break away from the propulsion module. 

The lander is expected to undergo a "deboost" (the process of slowing down) and make a soft landing on the south-polar region of the Moon on August 23.

“Even closer to the moon’s surface. Chandrayaan-3's orbit is reduced to 174 km x 1437 km following a maneuver performed today. The next operation is scheduled for August 14, 2023, between 11:30 and 12:30 Hrs. IST," ISRO had earlier tweeted.

ISRO lifted Chandrayaan-3 into orbits farther and farther away from the Earth in the weeks following its July 14 launch. A key maneuver on August 1 launched the spacecraft successfully into the moon's orbit.

Following its landing on the moon, the lander and the rover currently housed within Chandrayaan-3 will carry out experiments on the lunar surface. The mission objectives of Chandrayaan-3 are to demonstrate safe and soft landing on the lunar surface, to demonstrate rover roving on the Moon, and to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.

Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. The entire design of the lander ‘Vikram’ has been made in a manner that makes sure that it would be able to handle failures. However, ISRO plans to have a proper touchdown even if its sensors and engines fail completely.

(With inputs from agencies)