Chandrayaan 3 is expected to land on the south pole of the moon on August 23 at around 6:04pm (Indian time).
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Monday released pictures of the Vikram lander determining the landing site – two days before the landing.
“Here are the images of Lunar far side area captured by the Lander Hazard Detection and Avoidance Camera (LHDAC). This camera that assists in locating a safe landing area — without boulders or deep trenches — during the descent,” the ISRO wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The Chandrayaan 3 is expected to land on the south pole of the moon on August 23 at around 6:04pm (Indian time). On Sunday morning, the second and final deboosting operation of the mission was carried out successfully.
Chandrayaan-3’s journey so far:
July 6: The ISRO declared Chandrayaan-3 mission would launch on July 14 from Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota’s second launch pad.
July 7: All vehicle electrical tests were completed successfully.
July 11: A 24-hour ‘Launch Rehearsal’ was done successfully.
July 14: ISRO’s LVM3 M4 launched Chandrayaan-3 into its intended orbit.
July 15: The mission’s first orbit-raising manoeuvre succeeded in Bengaluru. The spacecraft reached an orbit of 41762 km x 173 km.
July 17: The second orbit-raising manoeuvre put Chandrayaan-3 in an orbit of 41603 km x 226 km.
July 22: The fourth orbit-raising manoeuvre, Earth-bound perigee firing, successfully placed the spacecraft in a 71351 km x 233 km orbit.
July 25: Another orbit-raising manoeuvre was carried out successfully.
August 1: In a significant milestone, Chandrayaan-3 entered the translunar orbit with an orbit of 288 km x 369328 km.
August 5: The spacecraft entered the lunar orbit at 164 km x 18074 km.
August 6: The spacecraft’s orbit was lowered to 170 km x 4,313 km around the Moon.
August 9: Another manoeuver was performed that lowered the spacecraft to 174 km x 1437 km.
August 14: The mission entered the orbit circularisation phase of 151 km x 179 km orbit.
August 16: The spacecraft entered the orbit of 153 km x 163 km after the firing.
August 17: The landing module, comprising the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover was separated from its propulsion system.
August 18: The spacecraft successfully completed a ‘deboosting’ operation that reduced its orbit to 113 km x 157 km. 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.
August 20: Chandrayaan-3 performed the second and final deboosting operation and reduced the LM orbit to 25 km x 134 km.
August 23: If everything goes well and as planned, the spacecraft will land on the lunar surface.
