Chandrayaan's Big Step: Lander "Vikram's" Separation Ahead Of Moon Landing

The Chandrayaan-3's lander 'Vikram' has successfully separated from spacecraft and is now expected to land on the moon on August 23. "LM is successfully separated from the Propulsion Module (PM). LM is set to descend to a slightly lower orbit upon a deboosting planned for tomorrow," ISRO said in a tweet.

After separation, the lander is expected to undergo a "deboost" (the process of slowing down) to place it in an orbit where the Perilune (closest point to the Moon) is 30 kilometres and Apolune (farthest point from the Moon) is 100 km.

From this orbit, the soft landing on the south polar region of the Moon will be attempted on August 23, ISRO has said.

Once on the Moon, the rover will conduct experiments on the chemical makeup of the moon's surface and search for water. The rover will have a life span of one lunar day, which is equivalent to 14 days on Earth.

Meanwhile, the propulsion module will continue to orbit around the moon and study the Earth's atmosphere. It will also accumulate signatures of exoplanets that would qualify for our habitability.

The mission comes amid a breakthrough in boosting cooperation with the US in outer space. India is also in discussions with Japan to work on a moon mission together, ISRO Chairman S Somanath said.

Post its launch on July 14, Chandrayaan-3 entered into the lunar orbit on August 5, following which orbit reduction maneuvers were carried out on August 6, 9, 14 and 16.

As the mission progressed, a series of maneuvers are being conducted by ISRO to gradually reduce Chandrayaan-3's orbit and position it over the lunar poles.

Yesterday, ISRO successfully placed the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft into a circular orbit of 153 kilometers by 163 kilometers around the Moon, completing all lunar-bound maneuvers.