Key Takeaways
- The Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter established two‑way communication with the Chandrayaan-3 lander, a crucial step before the moon landing.
- ISRO performed the final de‑boosting, lowering the LM orbit to about 25 km × 134 km for a precise descent.
- The mission targets the South Polar Region of the Moon, where the rover will conduct in‑situ experiments.
Chennai: In a significant milestone, Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter on Monday formally welcomed the Lander Module (LM) of Chandryaan-3, which will make a soft landing on the moon on August 23 to explore the South Polar Region.
The two way communication between the orbiter and lander has been established, ISRO said.
In post of “X”, ISRO added: “Chandrayaan-3 Mission: ‘Welcome, buddy!’ Ch-2 orbiter formally welcomed Ch-3 LM.”
“Two-way communication between the two is established. “Mission Operations Complex (MOX) has now more routes to reach the LM”, it said.
Chandrayaan-2, India’s second Lunar mission, was launched in July 2019 and the Lander crashlanded due to a technical glitch very close to the landing site in September 2019, making the mission 99.99 per cent success.
ISRO said in a monumental event in space exploration, Chandrayaan-3 will land in moon at 1804 hrs on August 23.
The Space Agency performed the second and final deboosting operation of LM on Sunday early morning.
Upon landing, Rover will be ejected out from the LM for conducting insitu experiments on the Lunar region.
The second deboosting operation was done at 0200 hrs early Sunday morning and the LM would await sunrise at the designated landing site and the powered descent will commence on August 23, it said.
After this manoeuvre, the Chandryaan-3 spacecraft was now located at about 25 km x 134 km.
In a social media post ISRO in an update on Chandrayaan-3 Mission said the second and final deboosting operation has successfully reduced the LM orbit to 25 km x 134 km.
“The module would undergo internal checks and await the sun-rise at the designated landing site”, ISRO said.
