ISRO Successfully Performs Orbit Reduction Manoeuvre, Brings Chandrayaan-3 Closer to Moon

ISRO said it will carry out the next such operation on August 9.

By Press Trust of India | Updated: 7 August 2023 12:53 IST

ISRO Successfully Performs Orbit Reduction Manoeuvre, Brings Chandrayaan-3 Closer to Moon

Photo Credit: Reuters

ISRO carried out the manoeuvre a day after inserting Chandrayaan-3 into the lunar orbit

Highlights

There will be three more moon-bound manoeuvres till August 17
Chandrayaan-3 will attempt a soft landing on the moon's surface on August
Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2

The Indian Space Research Organisation on Sunday said it has successfully carried out the orbit reduction manoeuvre of India's third moon mission Chandrayaan-3, a day after inserting it into the lunar orbit.

The space agency said it will carry out the next such operation on August 9.

"The spacecraft successfully underwent a planned orbit reduction manoeuvre. The retrofiring of engines brought it closer to the moon's surface, now to 170 km x 4,313 km.

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"The next operation to further reduce the orbit is scheduled for August 9, 2023, between 1300 and 1400 hrs IST," ISRO tweeted on Sunday.

There will be three more moon-bound manoeuvres till August 17, following which the landing module, comprising the lander and rover, will break away from the propulsion module.

After this, de-orbiting manoeuvres will be carried out on the lander before the final descent on the moon. According to ISRO, it would attempt a soft landing on the moon's surface on August 23.

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In over five moves in the three weeks since the launch on July 14, ISRO has been lifting the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft into orbits farther and farther away from the earth.

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.

It comprises an indigenous propulsion module, a lander module and a rover to develop and demonstrate new technologies required for inter-planetary missions.

The propulsion module will carry the lander and rover configuration till 100 km of lunar orbit. The propulsion module has a Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload to study the spectral and polarimetric measurements of the earth from the lunar orbit.

The lander has the capability to soft land at a specified lunar site and deploy the rover that will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the moon's surface during the course of its mobility.

The lander and the rover have scientific payloads to carry out experiments on the lunar surface.

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