Chandrayaan-3's Journey To The Moon: A Timeline Of India's Third Lunar Mission

The Chandrayaan-3 mission successfully landed near the Moon's south pole on August 23 at 6.04 PM IST. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) developed the entire mission, serving as a follow up to Chandrayaan-2 that was unable to meet its objectives.

The space agency successfully soft-landed of the Chandrayaan-3 near Moon's south pole, a region considered particularly interesting due to potential water ice deposits.

ISRO

What's the timeline of Chandrayaan-3?

1. On July 6, 2023, ISRO revealed the launch date of Chandrayaan-3 as July 14, and it was slated to take off from Sriharikota's secondary pad.
2. ISRO successfully concluded vehicle electrical assessments on July 7.
3. On July 11, the space agency finished its 24-hour launch rehearsal that mimicked the launch procedure.
4. The spacecraft took off on July 14 and a LVM3 M4 vehicle propelled Chandrayaan-3 into its assigned orbit.
5. This was followed by orbit-raising manoeuvres, with the first one taking place on July 15 (41,762 km x 173 km), followed by three more on July 17 (41,603 km x 226 km), July 22 (71,351 km x 233 km), and July 25.
6. On August 1, Chandrayaan-3 was inserted into a translunar orbit (288 km x 3,69,328 km).
7. Chandrayaan-3 was successfully inserted into lunar orbit on August 5 (164 km x 18074 km).
8. On August 6, the lunar orbit was reduced to 170 km x 4,313 km.
9. On August 9, ISRO adjusted Chandrayaan-3's trajectory to maintain a lunar orbit of 174 km x 1,437 km.
10. On August 14, Chandrayaan-3 got closer to the Moon's surface, achieving an orbit of 150 km x 177 km.
11. This was followed by its fifth and final Moon-bound manoeuvre - achieving a circular lunar orbit of 163 km x 153 km.
12. On August 17, the landing module that includes the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover separated from its propulsion system.
13. On August 18, a "deboosting" operation took the landing module's orbit to 113 km x 157 km.
14. On August 20, the orbit of 134 km x 25 km was achieved, both representing the farthest and nearest points from the moon respectively.
15. The lunar touchdown began on August 23 at 5:47 pm IST with the soft-landing successfully achieved at 6.04 PM IST.

AP

What's next for Chandrayaan-3?

A successful landing marked a huge win for India and its space ambitions, but the real work will begin now.

The Pragyan rover will analyse the Moon's surface for one lunar day (14 Earth days) with a plethora of data coming from five scientific instruments aboard the Vikram lander and the rover.

Once the lander module sits on the Moon surface, one side panel of the Vikram lander will unfold, along with a ramp for the six-wheeled vehicle Pragyan.

Also read: Explained: As Chandrayaan-3 Prepares To Land, Why Are Space Agencies Targeting Moon's South Pole?

Unsplash

After four hours, Pragyan will descend from the lander's belly and will move at a speed of 1 cm per second - scanning surrounding areas using navigation cameras. As the rover rolls, it will imprint India's national flag and ISRO's logo on the lunar regolith (soil).

The rover and lander will have two weeks to make their assessments on the Moon. The rover is equipped with payloads to log in data about the Moon's surface - including its composition and more.

Also read: ISRO Chandrayaan-3 Soft Landing: Date, Time And Where To Watch; Check Details

This data will be sent to the lander that will also measure Moon's near-surface plasma density and study the Moon's thermal properties. The lander directly communicates with the ISRO team on Earth and that's how the space agency will maintain contact.

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