On 14th of July, 2023, India launched a mission to send its moon lander spacecraft Chandrayaan 3. This moon lander is on a journey bound to far side of the moon, near south pole of it. On August 14, 2023, exactly one month after its launch on top of a rocket, Chandrayaan 3 had finally moved closer to the moon, on the nearest orbit before a journey towards the moon’s surface had to be started.
Now according to latest updates, the Lander Module itself which is called ‘Vikram’ has successfully separated from the Spacecraft. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), through a post on X social media platform, announced that the Lander Module (LM) have separated from the main spacecraft. The ‘Post’ by ISRO on X started like “Thanks for the ride, mate! said the Lander Module (LM)”. The full text, which was posted about the Vikram Lander Module Separation on X social media platform is as follows.
According to ISRO, tomorrow, August 18th at about 4:00 PM Indian Standard Time (IST), Lander Module will slightly descend and further lower its orbit near the moon. It will be the first solo maneuver of the LM after separation from main spacecraft.
According to ISRO, main spacecraft will remain in orbit around moon for many years. Also they added that India has now three such spacecrafts in orbits around moon. Two from previous mission and latest one joined them from the Chandrayaan 3 mission.
As we had told you in our previous update about Chandrayaan 3 mission, the moon lander by India is expected to make soft touchdown on the surface of moon on August 23, 2023. A similar space probe from Russian Roscosmos Space agency is also traveling to the moon. The russian moon lander called Luna-25 will also land on far side of moon near south pole.
Luna 25 started its journey via a launch from earth on August 10, 2023, much later than Chandrayaan 3. However, as Luna 25 is opting for a much direct route, so Luna 25 will beat Chandrayaan 3 to the moon and is expected to land on the moon’s surface on 21st of August, 2023.
ISRO is expected to release the details of next action in Chandrayaan 3 moon mission after 4:00 PM IST on August 2023, after the LM lowers its orbit. We will make sure to keep you updated. Do click the bell icon on lower right corner of this page and activate the web or mobile notifications, so next update and other important posts in science and technology space can reach you easily.