ISRO begins firing of onboard thrusters as Chandrayaan-3 mission enters crucial phase

ISRO to fire onboard thrusters of Chandrayaan-3 from July 15 to take it to Moon's south pole for soft-landing on Aug 23. Scientists to perform several orbit raising manoeuvres during 41-day phase.

Scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Bengaluru will fire the onboard thrusters attached to Chandrayaan-3 from July 15 onwards, taking the spacecraft further away from Earth on a crucial 41-day phase to make a soft-landing at the south pole of the Moon on August 23.

Speaking to reporters in Thiruvananthapuram on July 15, Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre S Unnikrishnan Nair said the launch vehicle has performed "extremely well" and initial conditions required for Chandrayaan-3 have been provided "very precisely".

On July 14, the Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launched Chandrayaan-3 on board an LVM3-M4 rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre. And 17 minutes after lift-off at 2.35 p.m., the satellite was precisely injected into the intended orbit.

"Today onwards, the onboard thrusters will be fired and Chandrayaan-3 will be taken away from Earth for an eventful landing on Moon's surface on August 23," Mr. Nair said.

"The vehicle system has performed extremely well. And because of that, whatever the initial conditions the spacecraft needed, we have provided very precisely," he added.

Since the first leg of the experiment is one hundred percent successful, the spacecraft also is in very good health and would be able to go to the Moon on its own using its propulsion and its onboard logic, he explained.

An official of Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota who did not want to be named said, "Scientists would be engaged in several orbit raising manoeuvres during this phase." The first set of manoeuvres are expected to take place on Saturday, the official said.