Chandrayaan 3: Chandrayaan-3 reaches closer to the Moon, preparing to separate propulsion and lander modules
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Chandrayaan-3 Update: As part of India’s ambitious moon mission, Chandrayaan-3 has successfully entered the fifth and final orbit of Earth’s only satellite, bringing it even closer to the Moon’s surface. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said that with this, Chandrayaan-3 has completed its process to reach the Moon and will now prepare to separate the propulsion module and the lander module. ISRO posted on X (formerly Twitter), Today’s successful operation required a brief period of time. Under this, Chandrayaan-3 was established in the orbit of 153 km x 163 km of the Moon, which we had estimated. With this, the process of entering the Moon’s range was completed. Now the propulsion module and lander are ready for separation.
soft landing attempt on south polar region of moon
ISRO said that on August 17, there is a plan to separate the lander module from the propulsion module of Chandrayaan-3. Chandrayaan-3 entered the Moon’s orbit on 5 August after its launch on 14 July. After this it entered the next orbits of the Moon on 6, 9 and 14 August and kept getting closer to it. After separation, the lander is expected to undergo a “deboost” (slowing down process) to place it in an orbit where the perilune (closest point to the moon) is 30 km and the apolune (farthest point from the moon) is 30 km away. The point of) is 100 kms. ISRO said that from here on August 23, soft landing of the vehicle will be attempted on the south polar region of the Moon.
Lots of algorithms put in place to try to make a fair landing
ISRO chairman S. Somnath recently said that the most important part of the landing is the process of bringing the velocity of the lander from an altitude of 30 km to the final landing and the ability to move the vehicle from horizontal to vertical is the process where we have to show our capability. Somnath said, the velocity at the beginning of the landing process is about 1.68 kilometers per second, but this speed is horizontal to the lunar surface. Here Chandrayaan-3 is tilted almost 90 degrees, it has to be vertical. This whole process of changing direction from horizontal to vertical is a very interesting calculation mathematically. We have repeated this process several times. This is where we had a problem last time (Chandrayaan-2). He said that apart from this, it has to be ensured that fuel consumption is less, distance calculation is correct and all mathematical parameters are correct. Somnath said that extensive simulations (exercises) have been done, guidance designs have been changed. A lot of algorithms are put in place at all these stages to control the necessary process and try to make a fair landing.
Installed in a phased manner in more than five classes
ISRO has placed Chandrayaan-3 in more than five orbits of the Moon in a phased manner in the three weeks since its launch on July 14. On August 1, in an important procedure, the vehicle was successfully sent from the Earth’s orbit towards the Moon. Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-up mission to Chandrayaan-2 (2019) to demonstrate end-to-end capability to safely land on the lunar surface and go around. It consists of an indigenous propulsion module, lander module and a rover aimed at developing and demonstrating new technologies required for inter-planetary missions.
Lander and Rover configuration 100 km from the Moon’s orbit
The lander and rover configuration apart from the propulsion module is 100 km from the lunar orbit. It carries the ‘Spectro-Polarimeter of Habitable Planet Earth’ (SHAP) payload to study the spectral and polarimetric measurements of the Earth from the Moon’s orbit. Expressing happiness over the successful passage of the Chandrayaan-3 mission so far, former ISRO chairman K.K. Sivan said the landing of the lander on the lunar surface on August 23 would be “a big moment that we have been waiting for”.
Certainly more concern about the landing process
Sivan was heading the space agency during the second lunar mission. He said Chandrayaan 2 had also passed through all these stages successfully, and an “issue” surfaced during the second stage of landing and the mission was not successful as per the target. He said, now there will definitely be more concern about the landing process. It was not successful last time. This time everyone is waiting for that great moment. I am sure it will be successful as we have understood the failures during Chandrayaan 2. Sivan said, we have rectified it and in addition, wherever the margin was less, additional margin has been added. This time we hope that the mission will be successful. We have full faith in this.
Will proceed successfully without any problem
The objective of the Chandrayaan-3 mission is to perform a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface, walk the rover on the Moon and conduct scientific experiments on the lunar surface. Regarding yesterday’s separation of the lander and propulsion module, Sivan said, “Yesterday’s process is very important because any activity in space is an important activity.” Tomorrow’s activity in space separates Chandrayaan-3 into two parts, one is propulsion and the lander. This is very important and we are hoping that it will be normal and will go ahead successfully without any problem.
The journey to the moon will begin early in the morning on August 23.
Dr M Annadurai, Project Director of Chandrayaan-1, India’s first mission to the Moon, said that after the propulsion module bids goodbye to the lander, the lander will undergo its initial checks. The four main thrusters, which will enable the lander to soft-land on the lunar surface, need to be tested as well as other sensors, he said. Then it (the lander) will make its way to the orbit of 100 km x 30 km and from there the journey to the Moon will begin in the early hours of August 23. The lander will have the capability to perform a soft landing on a specific lunar site and deploy a rover that will perform in situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during its mobility. The lander and rover have scientific payloads to conduct experiments on the lunar surface.
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