It was launched on July 14th. Chandrayaan-3 will soon become India’s first spacecraft that makes an easy landing on the moon.
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has stated that it will attempt a soft landing on the lunar lander surface on August 23. After being in Earth’s orbit for two weeks, the Indian Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft entered the translunar orbit during the morning hours on Tuesday morning, moving toward the moon.
“Next stop, next stop: The moon”, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) announced in a tweet.
The spacecraft will travel to the moon’s surface in approximately four days. On August 5, the spacecraft will begin its lunar orbit and begin moving around the moon, similar to how it has been orbiting the Earth Earth to date. It will slowly move in lower and lower orbits around the moon until it reaches a circular orbit of 100 km; from an orbit around the moon, the last descent of the rover and lander module will occur around August 23.
It was launched on July 14. Chandrayaan-3 was launched on July 14 and is scheduled to become the first Indian spacecraft that makes a landing softly on the moon. The previous attempt by India, Chandrayaan-2 in 2019, failed to achieve an effective landing.
The spacecraft will spend the next 18 days travelling around the moon as it reduces the speed and orbits to prepare for the landing. In the final phase, the orbit of this spacecraft is 100 km from the moon. The lander rover is separated from the propulsion module and lowered to the lunar surface.
In place of shooting direct towards lunar orbit, present and prior Indian missions have enlisted advantage of the gravity of the Earth to boost the speed of travel by circling it and then increasing the orbit gradually.
The landing site chosen to launch the spacecraft slightly differs from the one selected for Chandrayaan-2. The spacecraft will land on 69.36oS and 32.34oE close to the moon’s southern pole. The area was chosen as many craters are permanently in the shade and could be the storage area for water, ice, and precious minerals.
Chandramana 2 The lander, designed to accomplish the same goals, crashed just 2.1 kilometers from its surface. To ensure that the mission would be successful, a mission currently in operation, various modifications were made, like a more muscular leg for the landing pad, one less engine in it to guarantee adequate thrust and additional solar panels that were placed on its surface, and the option to launch anywhere within the more extensive 4km*2.4km area.
In explaining the reasons for Chandrayaan-2’s failure, Chandrayaan-2, during its final leg, ISRO chairman S Somanath stated that the five engines on the lander produced more thrust than anticipated. While still within the parameters, the errors accumulated over the time the lander needed to stay steady. The lander took photos during the descent to find where to land. Site.
As course corrections were being made, the spacecraft had to accelerate its speed; however, its capability to turn was restricted by the software. The spacecraft was faced with contradictions in the requirements of reducing the speed at which it descended while also accelerating to reach the right landing site. Thus when it finally did make its landing, it struck the ground at a higher speed.
If the soft landing happens, India will become the fourth nation after that of the US, Russia, and China to achieve this. It would become the first time a soft landing had been made near the moon’s southern pole. Through Chandrayaan-1, India had dropped an impact probe on the moon but not quite to the pole, at 89.7oS close to the Shackleton crater.
