Chandrayaan-3 got even closer to the Moon on Wednesday, according to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The spacecraft put itself into a near-circular orbit 153–163 kilometers from the surface of the moon, which paved the way for the separation of the Lander Module on Thursday.
The spacecraft, which consists of a Propulsion Module and the lander component, which includes the rover, conducted the fourth and final orbit-reducing maneuver on Wednesday. This particular maneuver took place on Mars.
After the Lander has finished activating and testing its on-board instruments, including the three scientific payloads, it will perform two orbit-reduction manoeuvres. The first of these will be to enter a circular orbit of 100 x 100 kilometers, and the second will bring it closer to the Moon by placing it in an orbit of 100 x 30 kilometers.
On August 23, the Lander will begin its final descent for a landing on the Moon from its current orbit at 100 x 30 kilometers above the lunar surface.
After it has severed its connection to the Propulsion Module, the Lander will complete the last leg of its voyage to the surface of the Moon under its own power.
The problem that caused the Chandrayaan-2 to crash land occurred in the final phase of descent, only a few seconds before it was scheduled to touch down.
“It’s time for preparations as the Propulsion Module and the Lander Module gear up for their separate journeys,” the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) stated in a statement.
Chandrayaan-3 was sent into lunar orbit on August 5, having been launched on July 14.
ISRO chairman S. Somanath stated that the space agency has used a “failure-based approach” when designing the Lander based on the lessons learned from the Chandrayaan-2 mission. As a result of these lessons, ISRO has made various adjustments to the Lander.
Earlier, he was quoted as saying, “We have looked at everything that could go wrong and how we can prevent it.”
For the Chandrayaan-2 mission, the Propulsion Module doubled as the Orbiter and was responsible for transporting the Lander and Rover into lunar orbit.
There was no requirement for an Orbiter component in Chandrayaan-3 because it performed regularly and all of the experiments and observations that were planned were successfully carried out by the instruments that were on board.
Despite this, the Lander Module had to be moved to an orbit around the moon, and the Propulsion Module was responsible for completing this particular part of the mission.
Even though the Propulsion Module will have completed its primary mission after the Lander has been detached from it, it will still continue to collect data for the next few months using the one instrument it is equipped with.
