Chandrayaan Feat
News Kashmir Analysis
India’s lunar mission Chandrayaan-3 is nearing its exciting climax. It is the closest to the moon before the tricky landing manoeuvre is attempted on August 23.
The Russian lunar probe Luna-25, too, is also closing in and will attempt a landing between August 21 and 23. Both Russia and India are targeting to land nearer the south pole of the moon.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) feels there is no such race. Both nations will have a new ‘meeting point’ on the moon.
Chandrayaan-3 was launched on July 14 from Sriharikota using the Launch Vehicle Mark-3. It reached the moon’s orbit on August 5, and has been orbiting it since then.
Few days back, Chandryaan-3 was put in an orbit of 153 km by 163 km and all lunar-bound manoeuvres were completed. On August 17, the propulsion module and the lander Vikram will separate. The propulsion module will continue its journey in the same orbit.
ISRO Chairman has revealed that the critical part during the soft landing of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft would be the direction of the spacecraft. He said the velocity at the start of the landing process is almost 1.68 km per second, but this speed is horizontal to the surface of the moon. The Chandrayaan-3 here is tilted almost 90 degrees, it has to become vertical. “The ability to transfer the spacecraft from horizontal to vertical direction is the ‘trick we have to play’ here,” ISRO Chairman said.
Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh said he is more than 100% confident that Chandrayaan-3 will make a safe landing on Moon. He said, “Most of the critical stages are over now…Now I think I’m quite confident, more than 100% it’s going to be a safe landing”.
Chandrayaan-3 success means India set to become fourth country to land on the moon.
ISRO has set three main objectives for the Chandrayaan-3 mission, which include:
Getting a lander to land safely and softly on the surface of the Moon.
Observing and demonstrating the rover’s loitering capabilities on the Moon.
In-site observation & conducting experiments on the materials available on the lunar surface to better understand composition of the Moon.
The satellite was launched aboard the LVM3-M4 rocket in the afternoon of 14 July 2023, at 2:35 pm IST to a EPO perigee of 170 km (106 mi). This will be followed by a series of orbit raising operations (using an on-board LAM and chemical thrusters) to place the satellite in the Trans-lunar injection orbit.
As a matter of fact, Following Chandrayaan-2, where a last-minute glitch in the landing guidance software led to the lander crashing after entering lunar orbit, another lunar mission was proposed.
The launch of Chandrayaan-3 took place on 14 July 2023, at 2:35 pm IST. The lander and rover are expected to land near the lunar south pole region on 23 August 2023.
With the complete success of this great mission India will stamp its authority as global superpower. We all are as Indians proud of our nation.
