ISRO performs Chandrayaan-3’s first orbit-raising manoeuvre

The manoeuvre was performed by the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru

A day after the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched India’s third moon mission, Chandrayaan-3, the first orbit-raising manoeuvre was conducted on Saturday.

The manoeuvre was performed by the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru to place the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft at the 41,762 km x 173 km orbit. This means that Chandrayaan-3 is now in an orbit, which when closest to Earth is at 173 km and farthest at 41,762 km.

“The first orbit-raising manoeuvre (Earth-bound firing-1) is successfully performed at ISTRAC/ISRO, Bengaluru,” the space agency said. ISRO also said that the spacecraft’s health is normal.

Chandrayaan-3 was successfully launched by the Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM-3) when it took off from the second launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 2.35 p.m. on July 14 and placed at an elliptic parking orbit of 36,500 km x 170 km. Four more Earth-bound manoeuvres will be conducted till July 31. Thereafter, the trans lunar insertion will take place on August 1.