Get ready to cheer for India’s Chandrayaan-3 as it sets its sights on the moon! Launched on July 14, the spacecraft is on a thrilling journey, slowly raising its orbit around Earth. The propulsion module, which is just like its powerhouse, just completed its fourth orbit-raising maneuver on July 20. This maneuver involved firing its engines at the closest point to Earth, pushing it even farther away in its path.
Excitingly the next firing is planned on July 25, between 2 and 3 p.m. India Standard Time and a translunar injection burn will take place on July 31 which will kick off the spacecraft’s journey towards the moon.
Chandrayaan-3 is being extra cautious and taking a low-energy approach to reach the moon. If all goes well, it will try to land on the lunar surface on either August 23 or August 24. This mission is India’s second attempt to make history with a successful moon landing. The previous try, Chandrayaan-2, unfortunately, didn’t go as planned in 2019, but the new mission ISRO has learned valuable lessons from that experience.
Once on the moon, if the touchdown is successful, the mission’s lander and rover will get to work for up to 14 Earth days (which is like one day on the moon). They’ll gather important science data from the lunar surface. But, here’s a sad fact: the spacecraft won’t survive the incredibly harsh cold lunar night, as they aren’t designed for it.
So, let’s all cross our fingers and wish Chandrayaan-3 the best of luck on its daring adventure to the moon. And if ISRO is successful India will be the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the moon after the United States, Russia, and China. India is celebrating International Moon Day 2023 with high hopes for this mission’s success! Go Chandrayaan-3!
[…] Launched on July 14, Chandrayaan-3 aims to achieve India’s first successful moon landing. The lander and rover components have been progressing according to plan so far. […]