After Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft moved closer to the lunar surface, it went through another orbital reduction strategy, ISRO released a new image on Thursday. Chandrayaan-3, India’s ambitious third moon mission spacecraft, entered lunar orbit or moon orbit on August 5, after launching on July 14.
On Wednesday, ISRO tweeted,”Even closer to the moon’s surface. Chandrayaan-3’s orbit is reduced to 174 km x 1437 km following a maneuver performed today.”The next operation is scheduled for Aug. 14, between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., ISRO said.
According to ISRO sources, there will be two more orbit reduction techniques to bring the spacecraft closer to the moon. These techniques will be performed on August 14 and 16 to reach a 100 km orbit, after which the landing module, lander and rover will move away from the propulsion module. After that, the lander will undergo a “deboost” (maneuvering process) and is expected to make a soft landing in the moon’s south polar region on August 23.