Chennai: Indian space agency Thursday afternoon successfully detached the moon lander from the main spacecraft Chandrayaan-3.
The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft comprises a propulsion module (weighing 2,148 kg), a lander (1,723.89 kg) and a rover (26 kg).
“Thanks for the ride, mate! said the Lander Module (LM). LM is successfully separated from the Propulsion Module (PM). LM is set to descend to a slightly lower orbit upon a deboosting planned for tomorrow around 1600 Hrs., IST,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) tweeted.
Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
‘Thanks for the ride, mate! 👋’
said the Lander Module (LM).LM is successfully separated from the Propulsion Module (PM)
LM is set to descend to a slightly lower orbit upon a deboosting planned for tomorrow around 1600 Hrs., IST.
Now, 🇮🇳 has3⃣ 🛰️🛰️🛰️… pic.twitter.com/rJKkPSr6Ct
— ISRO (@isro) August 17, 2023
According to ISRO, the lander was separated from the propulsion module at an orbit of 153 km x 163 km around the moon.
Meanwhile, the Propulsion Module continues its journey in the current orbit for months/years, said ISRO.
“The SHAPE payload onboard it would perform spectroscopic study of the Earth’s atmosphere and measure the variations in polarization from the clouds on Earth – to accumulate signatures of Exoplanets that would qualify for our habitability! This payload is SHAPEd by U R Rao Satellite Centre/ISRO, Bengaluru,” ISRO added.
The main purpose of India’s third moon mission costing about Rs 600 crore is to land the lander softly on the moon.
The Chandrayaan-2 mission failed as the lander called ‘Vikram’ crashed on to the moon.
According to the ISRO, the lander is expected to make a soft-landing near the South Pole of the moon on August 23 at 5.47 p.m.
The lander will descend to the moon from a height of about 100 km from the moon’s surface.
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.
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.