After Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander underwent a key deboosting manoeuvre on Friday after successfully getting separated from the propulsion module, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) shared a new video of the Moon's surface.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, ISRO shared the latest images of the lunar surface from Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft's Lander Imager (LI) Camera-1
It also shared visuals of the lunar surface captured by the Chandrayaan-3's Lander Position Detection Camera (LPDC) on August 15.
Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander underwent a key deboosting manoeuvre on Friday after successfully getting separated from the propulsion module a day before. ISRO took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to announce that deboosting manoeuvre was completed which reduced the Lander Module's orbit to 113 km x 157 km. "The second deboosting operation is scheduled for August 20, 2023, around 0200 Hrs," it added.
Deboosting is the process of slowing down to position itself in an orbit where the orbit's closest point to the Moon (Perilune) is 30 km and the farthest point (the Apolune) is 100 km.“The next Lander Module (Deorbit 1) manoeuvre is scheduled for tomorrow (August 18, 2023) around 1600 hrs IST,” ISRO posted on X (formerly Twitter) yesterday while announcing the successful separation of the lander from the propulsion module.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission's lander is named after Vikram Sarabhai (1919–1971), who is widely regarded as the father of the Indian space programme. On Wednesday, the spacecraft carried out the final lunar-bound orbit reduction manoeuvre of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, a week ahead of its scheduled landing on the south pole of the moon on August 23.
Know more about Chandrayaan-3 project:
ISRO is bidding to make a successful soft landing on the moon, which will make India the fourth country in the world to achieve the feat after the United States, Russia, and China.
The stated objectives of Chandrayaan-3, India's third lunar mission, are safe and soft landing, rover roving on the moon's surface, and in-situ scientific experiments. The approved cost of Chandrayaan-3 is Rs 250 crores (excluding launch vehicle cost).
Chandrayaan-3’s development phase commenced in January 2020 with the launch planned sometime in 2021. However, the COVID-19 pandemic brought an unforeseen delay to the mission's progress.Chandrayaan-3 is the ISRO's follow-up attempt after the Chandrayaan-2 mission faced challenges during its soft landing on the lunar surface in 2019 and was eventually deemed to have failed its core mission objectives.
In competition with Russia
Earlier today, Russia's lunar spacecraft, Luna 25, which is likely to reach the lunar surface before Chandrayaan-3, officially entered the Moon's orbit and has shared the first pictures of the far side of the Moon, which is permanently invisible from the Earth.
According to the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI RAS), the images show the south polar crater called the Zeeman crater, which is a unique phenomenon on the Moon's surface and is hidden from the Earth's view due to synchronous rotation.
