Chandrayaan-3, the third Indian lunar exploration mission under the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) Chandrayaan program, has soft-landed successfully on the south pole of the moon.
Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. It consists of Lander and Rover configuration. India has become the first country to do so. The country is also the fourth, after the United States, China and Russia to have landed on the Moon.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that, “Chandrayaan-3’s triumph mirrors the aspirations and capabilities of 140 crore Indians. To new horizons and beyond! Proud moment for India.”
The medium-lift Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM3) rocket launched the spacecraft to the moon on July 14, 2023, at 5:05 a.m. EDT (09:05 GMT or 2:35 p.m. local time), from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota. The Chandrayaan-3 mission achieved a crucial milestone with the successful completion of the Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) on August 5, 2023. The insertion was carried out by retro-burning at the Perilune for 1835 seconds, starting at 19:12 Hrs IST. The maneuver resulted in an orbit of 164 km x 18074 km, as intended.
The mission objectives of Chandrayaan-3 are;
To demonstrate a Safe and Soft Landing on the Lunar Surface
To demonstrate Rover roving on the moon and
To conduct in-situ scientific experiments.
This is the third time in succession that ISRO has successfully inserted its spacecraft into the lunar orbit, apart from doing so into the Martian orbit.
