A fortnight since its successful launch from Sriharikota, Chandrayaan-3 completed its orbit around the earth and headed towards the moon to the next phase of the mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) announced late Monday night.
"Chandrayaan-3 Mission: 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 Aug 5, 2023," Isro tweeted after the spacecraft was successfully inserted into the translunar orbit.
The lunar injection was conducted between 12am and 12.30am on Monday, officials confirmed.
Isro officials said that the Chandryaan-3 mission has stuck to schedule and the spacecraft’s health is currently normal.
Also read: Watch: Chandrayaan-3 observed in deep space by Polish telescope
On July 14 afternoon, Chandrayaan-3 was successfully launched into orbit by Isro on-board Launch Vehicle Mark-3, formerly known as the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk-III. After a 40-day flight, the spacecraft is expected to make a soft landing near the moon’s south pole, making India the fourth country to land on the surface of the moon and the first country to make a soft landing near lunar south pole.
{{/usCountry}}On July 14 afternoon, Chandrayaan-3 was successfully launched into orbit by Isro on-board Launch Vehicle Mark-3, formerly known as the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk-III. After a 40-day flight, the spacecraft is expected to make a soft landing near the moon’s south pole, making India the fourth country to land on the surface of the moon and the first country to make a soft landing near lunar south pole.
{{/usCountry}}Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-up mission to Chandrayaan-2, which aims to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. The spacecraft comprises a lander and rover configuration, which will be carried by a propulsion module till 100 km lunar orbit.
According to the mission brochure released by Isro ahead of the launch, the propulsion module has ‘Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE)’ payload to study the spectral and Polari metric measurements of Earth from the lunar orbit.