Chandrayaan 3 update: Vikram lander separates from the spacecraft

Chandrayaan 3 update: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) agency today announced that the Vikram Lander has successfully detached from the Chandrayaan 3 main spacecraft. “Thanks for the ride, mate! said the Lander Module (LM). LM (Lander Module) is successfully separated from the Propulsion Module (PM) LM is set to descend to a slightly lower orbit upon a deboosting planned for tomorrow around 1600 Hrs, IST,” the Indian space agency wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter). According to the details shared by ISRO, the lander module was separated from the propulsion module at an orbit of 153 km x 163 km around the moon.

Meanwhile, the Propulsion Module continues its journey in the current orbit for months/years, said ISRO.

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:

Meanwhile, the Propulsion Module continues its journey in the current orbit for months/years.

The SHAPE payload onboard it would
☑️ perform spectroscopic study of the Earth’s atmosphere and
☑️ measure the variations in polarization from the clouds on…

— ISRO (@isro) August 17, 2023

“The SHAPE payload onboard it would perform spectroscopic study of the Earth’s atmosphere and measure the variations in polarization from the clouds on Earth – to accumulate signatures of Exoplanets that would qualify for our habitability! This payload is SHAPEd by UR Rao Satellite Centre/ISRO, Bengaluru,” ISRO added in a separate post on the platform.

The soft landing is a tricky issue as it involves a series of complex manoeuvres consisting of rough and fine braking. Imaging of the landing site region prior to landing will be done for finding safe and hazard-free zones. Subsequent to the soft landing, the six-wheeled rover will roll out and carry out experiments on the lunar surface for a period of one lunar day which is equal to 14 earth days.

ISRO says that the lander module is expected to make a soft-landing near the South Pole of the moon on August 23 at 5.47PM. The lander will descend to the moon from a height of about 100KM from the moon’s surface.

The Chandrayaan-3 was put into orbit on July 14 in a copybook style by India’s heavy lift rocket LVM3. It comprises a propulsion module that weighs 2,148 kg, a lander that weighs 1,723.89 kg and a rover that weighs 26 kg. The main purpose of India’s third moon mission costing about Rs 600 crore is to land the lander softly on the moon.

The Chandrayaan-2 mission failed as the lander called ‘Vikram’ crashed on to the moon.

With agency inputs