On July 14, 2023, India launched their lunar lander caller Chandrayaan-3. This is another attempt of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to land on the far side of moon after previously the Indian lunar lander called Chandrayaan-2 was unable to perform the softlanding and it was destroyed on impact.
India is once again in process of landing a rover on far side (near south pole) of the moon with Chandrayaan 3 space probe. Today, on 14th of August, chandrayaan 3 performed another major operation which brought the chandrayaan 3 very close to the moon. It is now in the nearest orbit of the moon. On August 16, next major operation is expected.
In its current orbit Chandrayaan 3 have the distance of 177 KM from the moon on its furthest point from the surface called Apogee. The Perigee, which is shortest distance of lander from the moon in current orbit, is 150 KM. Means now the lunar lander Chandrayaan 3 is very close to the surface of moon.
Soon after, Chandrayaan 3 will leave its orbit around the moon and will start approaching the moon, while performing different operations, in order to perform soft landing on the surface of Moon. Chandrayaan-3 is expected to land on the moon’s surface on August 23, 2023.
Chandrayaan 3 have three main objective, first of all achieving a soft landing on the moon, so all the equipment remains intact and in working condition. Secondly, demonstrating and testing the capabilities of rover, specially for future improvements etc. Finally, collecting materials and performing tests on those available materials near the landing site at moon.
Mainly the Chandrayaan 3 will focus on testing the lunar soil for availability of water/ice and also it will take further tests of soil to determine its composition. Few tests will also be run on the Lunar atmosphere to determine its composition and other details.
Chandrayaan 3 weighs 26 Kilograms, it have six wheeled design and have a range of about 500m for moving around on the lunar surface, after the lander finally lands successfully.
Along with the personal mission like Chandrayaan 3 and much more, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) gives services to other world companies for transporting their satellites to the orbits. These missions are performed on regular basis, however one such example is when ISRO helped One Web to put 36 satellites in their intended orbit.
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