NEW DELHI, Aug 6 (NNN-PTI) – Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), last night said, the country’s third moon mission Chandrayaan-3 was successfully inserted into the lunar orbit.
“Chandrayaan-3 has been successfully inserted into the lunar orbit,” ISRO, in a brief statement posted on social media, said. “A retro-burning at the Perilune was commanded from the Mission Operations Complex (MOX), ISTRAC, Bengaluru.”
Perilune is the point at which a spacecraft in lunar orbit is closest to the moon.
ISRO said the next operation – reduction of orbit – is scheduled for today, at around 11:00 p.m. local time.
The space agency also shared a message from the satellite to its centres, which read, “MOX, ISTRAC, this is Chandrayaan-3. I am feeling lunar gravity.”
India’s state-run broadcaster, All India Radio (AIR), said, after the lunar orbit injection, Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is slated to orbit the moon multiple times, approaching the moon.
“Once it reaches a 100 km-orbit above the lunar surface, the lander and rover will be detached and manoeuvered to soft-land on the surface of the moon,” the broadcaster said. “The spacecraft is expected to complete a 40-day journey to make a soft landing near the moon’s south pole around Aug 23.”
Chandrayaan 3 was launched on Jul 14.
Chandrayaan-2 was launched on Jul 22, 2019. However, the mission lander lost contact shortly before the scheduled attempt to soft-land on the moon on Sept 7, 2019.– NNN-PTI
