The propulsion module (PM) of Chandrayaan-3 was moved from an orbit around the Moon to an orbit around the Earth, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) said in a statement on Monday.
“In another unique experiment, like the hop experiment on the Vikram Lander, the PM of Chandrayaan-3 was mobed from an orbit around Moon to an orbit around the Earth,” the statement said.
On August 23, the Indian space agency created history by successfully landing the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft near the lunar south pole, a feat that has not been achieved by any country before this. India also became the fourth country to successfully land on the moon after former USSR, the US and China.
Chandrayaan-3 lander (Vikram) and rover (Pragyan) spent one lunar day—equivalent to 14 Earth days—collecting data and samples from the moon, which could reveal secrets about the lunar surface, its atmosphere and its composition, that has never been studied before.
Isro scientists said that the primary objective of the Chandrayaan-3 propulsion module was to ferry the lander module from geosynchronous transfer orbits (GTO) to the final lunar polar circular orbit and separate the lander. After the separation, the Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload in the PM was also operated, Isro said.
{{/usCountry}}Isro scientists said that the primary objective of the Chandrayaan-3 propulsion module was to ferry the lander module from geosynchronous transfer orbits (GTO) to the final lunar polar circular orbit and separate the lander. After the separation, the Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload in the PM was also operated, Isro said.
{{/usCountry}}“The initial plan was to operate this payload for about three months during the mission life of PM. The precise orbit injection by LVM3 and optimal earth / lunar burn manoeuvres, resulted in the availability of over 100 kg of fuel in the PM after over one month of operations in the lunar orbit. It was decided to use the available fuel in the PM to derive additional information for future lunar missions and demonstrate the mission operation strategies for a sample return mission,” the ISRO statement read.
It said, “...Currently, propulsion module is orbiting Earth and cross edits first perigee on November 22nd with an altitude of 1.54 lakhs km. The orbit period is nearly 13 days with 27 deg inclination. The perigee and apogee altitude vary during its trajectory and the predicted minimum perigee altitude is 1.15 lakhs km. Hence as per current orbit prediction, there is no threats of close approach with any operational Earth orbiting satellites.”