Tag: Moon

Chandrayaan-3 Completes Final Lunar Orbital Move. Next Stop Moon

Chandrayaan-3 Moon mission: The lander Vikram will next try a soft-landing in the unexplored south polar region of the Moon on Wednesday, ISRO has said

The second and final de-boosting operation of India’s Moon mission Chandrayaan-3 successfully completed this morning, as scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) closely monitored the critical phase ahead of the spacecraft’s landing on the lunar surface on Wednesday.

The lander Vikram has placed itself in an orbit where the closest point to the Moon is 25 km and the farthest is 134 km. It is from this orbit that it will try a soft-landing in the unexplored south polar region of the Moon on Wednesday, ISRO has said.

“The second and final deboosting operation has successfully reduced the LM orbit to 25  km x 134 km. The module would undergo internal checks and await the sun-rise at the designated landing site. The powered descent is expected to commence on August 23, 2023, around 1745 Hrs. IST,” ISRO posted on X, formerly Twitter.

The lander Vikram has been descending in the Moon’s orbit in an automated mode; it has been deciding on its own how to go about its functions.

During the first de-boosting operation on Friday, former ISRO chief K Sivan told NDTV that the Chandrayaan-3 lander’s design is the same as the one used in the previous Chandrayaan-2 mission.

“There is no change in design. Based on observations from Chandrayaan-2, all errors that took place in the mission have been corrected,” he said.

A successful Moon landing will make India the historic fourth country to have achieved this feat.

On Thursday, the lander module separated from the propulsion module that had carried it all the way from Earth. The propulsion module will now continue orbiting Earth for months or even years, and study its atmosphere and measure the polarisation of light from clouds.

Following the detachment, the lander shared its first images of the Moon on Thursday.

Once on the Moon, the lander Vikram will photograph the Pragyaan rover, which will study the chemical makeup of the Moon’s surface and search for water. It has a lifespan of one lunar day, equivalent to 14 days on Earth.

Lander Vikram Sends First Pics Of Moon After Detaching From Spacecraft

The LI Camera -1 also captured images of the Harkhebi J crater, which has a diameter of approximately 43 km.

Chandrayaan 3’s lander Vikram shared latest images of the moon today after completing a manoeuvre that took it closer to its destination.

India’s space agency ISRO shared stunning images taken by the Lander Imager (LI) Camera-1,  on X, formerly known as Twitter. The montage of images shows different craters of the moon, one of which is the Giordano Bruno crater, one of the youngest large craters on the moon.

The LI Camera -1 also captured images of the Harkhebi J crater, which has a diameter of approximately 43 km. The pictures were taken after the lander successfully detached from the spacecraft’s propulsion module yesterday.

“Thanks for the ride, mate,” ISRO tweeted, imagining a conversation between the lander module and the spacecraft. The module is set to descend to a lower orbital after a deboosting or slowing down, which will bring it closer to the moon.

Russia Sends Spacecraft To Moon, Weeks After Chandrayaan-3 Launch

The Russian lunar mission, the first since 1976, is racing against India, which sent up its Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander last month, and more broadly with the United States and China, which both have advanced lunar exploration programmes.

A Soyuz 2.1v rocket carrying the Luna-25 craft blasted off from the east of Moscow on Friday.

Russia launched its first probe to the Moon in almost 50 years on Friday, a mission designed to give fresh impetus to its space sector, which has been struggling for years and become isolated by the conflict in Ukraine.

The launch of the Luna-25 probe is Moscow’s first lunar mission since 1976, when the USSR was a pioneer in the conquest of space.

The rocket with the Luna-25 probe lifted off at 02:10 am Moscow time (2310 GMT Thursday) from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, according to live images broadcast by the Russian space agency Roscosmos.

The spacecraft is due to reach lunar orbit in five days.

It will then spend between three and seven days choosing the right spot before landing in the lunar south pole area.

“For the first time in history, the lunar landing will take place on the lunar south pole. Until now, everyone has been landing in the equatorial zone,” senior Roscosmos official Alexander Blokhin said in a recent interview.

Roscosmos expects the probe to land on the Moon around August 21, a source in the agency told AFP.

– ‘The ambition of our ancestors’ –

The spacecraft, which will remain on the Moon for a year, will be tasked with “taking (samples) and analysing the soil” as well as “conducting long-term scientific research”, the Russian space agency said.

The launch is the first mission in Russia’s new lunar programme, which gets underway at a time when Roscosmos is being deprived of its partnerships with the West amid the conflict with Ukraine.

According to Russian space expert Vitali Iegorov, the mission is the first time that post-Soviet Russia has attempted to place a device on a celestial body.

“The biggest question will be: can it land?” he told AFP, stressing that this mission is “of great importance” for Russia.

President Vladimir Putin has pledged to continue Russia’s space programme despite sanctions, pointing to the USSR’s sending of the first man into space in 1961, at a time of escalating East-West tensions.

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/russia-launches-lunar-spacecraft-to-find-water-on-moon-4288327

Chandrayaan-3 launch: When will India’s lunar spacecraft land on the Moon?

Chandrayaan-3 will soft-land on the surface of the Moon in what will be the second attempt after Isro failed with the Chandrayaan-2 mission four years ago.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will attempt to launch Chandrayaan-3, the ambitious mission to the Moon, on June 14 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

With the spacecraft rolled out on the launchpad aboard the Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM-III), Isro is targetting the launch at 2:35 pm next Friday as the Moon aligns with the planet for a picture-perfect moment.

Chandrayaan-3 will soft-land on the surface of the Moon in what will be the second attempt after Isro failed with the Chandrayaan-2 mission four years ago. The spacecraft, equipped with a lander and rover, will detach from the Propulsion Module after being injected into lunar orbit.

Chandrayaan-3 mission being moved to launchpad on LVM-III. (Photo: Isro)

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO GO TO THE MOON?

The Chandrayaan-2 mission, which attempted to land on the Moon in 2019, took nearly 48 days to reach the Moon. While the Apollo missions would take a direct approach to the lunar world, probes take another approach, making the journey a longer one.

Launched on July 22, 2019, from Sriharikota, Chandrayaan-2 reached lunar orbit on August 20, 2019, covering 3,84,400 kilometers between Earth and the Moon. The probe took an extended duration since its journey involved a series of complex orbital maneuvers it executed to gradually raise its orbit and reach the Moon.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/science/chandrayaan-3/story/chandrayaan-3-mission-launch-moon-landing-date-time-2403245-2023-07-07

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