Chennai: With the expectations and excitement building up with every passing second, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Tuesday said the Chandrayaan-3 mission is on schedule and sailing smooth for a soft landing on the South Polar Region of moon August 23 evening.
After checking all the parameters and deciding to land, ISRO will upload all the required commands from its Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu near here, to the Lander, a couple of hours before the scheduled time touchdown.
Live telecast of landing will begin at 1720
The MOX is buzzed with energy & excitement and the live telecast of the landing operations at MOX/ISTRAC will begin at 1720 hrs on August 23, ISRO said.
ISRO sources said, "The powered descent of Lander for a soft landing on the Moon's surface will take place from a height of about 25 km with a speed of 1.6 km per second. The focus of ISRO scientists will be on reducing that speed since the Moon's gravitational force will also play a part.
The Lander will begin its moon landing descent at 6.04 p.m., two hours after the commands were uploaded and the telemetry signals were analysed.
Soft landing a tricky and challenging task
The soft landing is a tricky and challenging task as it involves a series of complex manoeuvres that included rough and fine braking.
Prior to landing, imaging of the landing site will be done for locating safe and hazard-free zones.
The Lander will descend towards the moon in a horizontal position and the Scientists in the MOX at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bengaluru will deploy the commands for fine braking.
The Lander’s position will be changed to vertical and in that position, it will hover over the moon, take pictures, survey the landing zone and decide on the safe landing spot.
17 minutes of terror
The critical process of soft-landing has been dubbed by many including ISRO officials as "17 minutes of terror", with the entire process being autonomous when the lander has to fire its engines at the right times and altitudes, use the right amount of fuel, and scan the lunar surface for any obstacles or hills or craters before finally touching down.
Meanwhile, ISRO released fresh set of images of the moon captured by the Lander Position Detection Camera (LPDC) from an altitude of about 70 km, on August 19.
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