Next Stop Moon: Chandrayaan-3 Enter Moon's Sphere Of Influence, Says ISRO

Chennai: India's third Lunar exploratory mission  Chandrayaan-3 enters the moon's sphere of influence after it  was injected into the Translunar Orbit (TLO) on Tuesday and  the spacecraft's health was normal.

In a mission update, ISRO tweeted "The spacecraft’s health  is normal."

The space agency added that perigee burn, a critical manoeuvre, was successfully executed, resulting in raising Chandrayaan-3's orbit to 288 km x 369328 km. This new orbit now brings the spacecraft within the moon's sphere of influence, it said.

"In this orbit, the spacecraft enters the moon’s sphere of influence", ISRO said.

The next crucial step for the mission is the Lunar Orbit Injection (LOI), which will be achieved through a maneuver at perilune. The LOI is planned for August 5, 2023.

Earlier, ISRO said Chandrayaan-3 completes its orbits around  the Earth and heads towards the Moon.

A successful perigee-firing performed at ISTRAC, ISRO has injected the spacecraft into the translunar orbit.

"Next stop: the Moon. As it arrives at the moon, the Lunar-Orbit  Insertion (LOI) is planned for August 5, 2023", it said.

This comes following ISRO’s midnight update on Chandrayan on Tuesday where the agency confirmed that  the spacecraft had completed its orbits around the Earth and is now heading towards the Moon. 

 

Chandrayaan-3, India's third lunar mission, was successfully launched on July 14, 2023, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

The spacecraft is expected to reach the Moon and make a soft landing on August 23-24. After a touchdown, the Rover will disembark from the lander module and make use of its advanced APXS (Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer) payloads.

Earlier, the spacecraft's orbit was progressively increased five times after the Chandrayaan-3 mission to Moon was launched on July 14.

The current mission follows Chandrayaan-2, which experienced a last-minute glitch leading to the lander crashing after entering lunar orbit. The spacecraft comprises a lander and rover, developed by ISRO, designed to safely land on the lunar surface, collect data, and conduct a series of scientific experiments.