'Am Feeling Lunar Gravity': Chandrayaan-3's Message to ISRO As Spacecraft Enters Moon's Orbit

In another crucial manoeuvre, India’s third unmanned Moon mission Chandrayaan-3 successfully entered the lunar orbit, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Saturday. It happened 22 days after the spacecraft was launched for a far more complicated 41-day voyage to reach the lunar south pole where no other nation has gone before.

The ISRO shared a message from the satellite to its centres, which read,” MOX, ISTRAC, this is Chandrayaan-3. I am feeling lunar gravity”. The required manoeuvre that brought it closer to the moon was carried out without any glitches from the space facility in Bengaluru. The injection into the lunar orbit marked a major milestone in the space agency’s ambitious Rs 600 crore mission.

“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 space agency said, adding, “The next operation – reduction of orbit – is scheduled for Aug 6, 2023, around 23:00 Hrs. IST.”

The next operation–a reduction of orbit–will be done at 11 PM on Sunday, the ISRO said.

After the Sunday maneuver tomorrow, there will be three more operations till August 17 following which the Landing Module Vikram carrying the rover Pragyan inside will break away from the Propulsion Module. After this, de-orbiting maneuvers will be carried on the lander before the final powered descent on the moon.

Since its launch on July 14, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft has covered approximately two-thirds of the distance to the Moon. In the past three weeks, ISRO has executed five strategic moves, gradually lifting the spacecraft into orbits increasingly distant from Earth. On August 1, a crucial slingshot manoeuvre was successfully performed, propelling the craft towards the Moon from Earth’s orbit.

Lunar Orbit Injection

After successfully escaping Earth’s orbit, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is now on its way towards the moon. In the next crucial manoeuvre, the Lunar Orbit Injection (LOI), scheduled for around 7 pm on August 5, the spacecraft was scheduled be precisely injected into the moon’s orbit.

This critical manoeuvre was to be executed at a point when Chandrayaan-3’s orbit is closest to the Moon, as stated by ISRO, the national space agency based in Bengaluru.

The space agency has confirmed that the spacecraft is in good health, and they plan to attempt a soft-landing on the lunar surface on August 23.

(with inputs from PTI)