Chandrayaan-3: ISRO successfully reduces Lander Module orbit bringing it closer to moon

ISRO successfully reduced orbit of Chandrayaan-3 LM, internal checks underway. LM to touch down on Moon's surface Aug 23. Slingshot move sent spacecraft to Moon's vicinity. Mission objectives: soft land, rover roving, in-situ experiments.

The ISRO on August 20 said it successfully reduced the orbit of the Chandrayaan-3 mission's Lander Module (LM), further bringing it nearer to the moon.

The national space agency also said that the LM would now undergo internal checks.

The LM, comprising the lander ‘Vikram' and rover ‘Pragyan’, is expected to touch down on the lunar surface on August 23 evening, it said.

“The second and final deboosting (slowing down) operation has successfully reduced the LM orbit to 25 km x 134 km. The module would undergo internal checks and await the sun-rise at the designated landing site. The powered descent is expected to commence on August 23, 2023, around 1745 Hrs IST,” ISRO said in a post on 'X' (formerly Twitter) on August 20.

The LM of Chandrayaan-3 successfully separated from the Propulsion Module on August 17, 35 days after the mission was launched on July 14.

ISRO sources earlier said, that after the separation, the lander is expected to undergo "deboost" (the process of slowing down) operations to place it in an orbit, where the Perilune (the orbit's closest point to the Moon) is 30 kilometres and Apolune (farthest point from the Moon) is 100 km, from where the soft landing on the south polar region of the Moon will be attempted.

At around 30 km altitude, the lander enters the powered braking phase, and begins to use its thrusters to reach the surface of the moon, they said, adding that at an altitude of about 100 m altitude, the lander would scan the surface to check whether there are any obstacles and then start descending to make a soft landing.