‘This is Chandrayaan-3. I am feeling lunar gravity’, after entering Moon’s orbit
Chennai, Aug 5 : ‘This is Chandrayaan-3. I am feeling lunar
gravity’, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) after
the spacecraft was successfully slinged into the Moon’s orbit
on Saturday evening.
The next operation, to reduce the Orbit will take place on Sunday
night at 2300 hrs, ISRO said.
In a significant and crucial manoeuvre, the third Moon Mission
Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft was inserted into the Lunar Orbit at
7.00 pm, heralding yet another major milestone in India’s Lunar
exploratory mission.
By firing the onboard thruster motors, the spacecraft was successfully
steered into the moon’s orbit.
ISRO tweeted: “MOX, ISTRAC, this is Chandrayaan-3, I am feeling
lunar gravity.”
“Chandrayaan-3 has been successfully inserted into the lunar orbit”,
it said.
“A retro-burning at the Perilune was commanded from the Mission
Operations Complex (MOX), ISTRAC, Bengaluru”, it added.
“The next operation – reduction of orbit – is scheduled for Aug 6, 2023,
around 23:00 Hrs.IST”, ISRO said.
ISRO sources said Chandrayaan-3 has now started orbiting the Moon’s
surface. The manoeuvre was performed at point when Chandrayaan-3’s
orbit came closest to the Moon, ISRO said.
It may be noted that the Indian Space Agency on August 1 midnight
successfully injected the Chandrayaan-3 into the TransLunar Orbit
after carrying out five Orbit raising manoeuvres ever since its launch
on July 14.
On August 1 in a key manoeuvre — a slingshot move — the craft was
sent successfully towards the Moon from Earth’s orbit.
The soft landing on the moon is planned at 5.47 p.m on August 23.
After injection into the Lunar orbit, the spacecraft’s orbit will be further
manoeuvred for the soft landing on August 23 evening to explore the
hitherto unexplored south polar region of the moon.
