Chandrayaan-3 to make moon landing today; time, where to watch live streaming

NEW DELHI: A few hours to go! Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s moon mission Chandrayaan-3 Lander Module is all set to land on the lunar surface today. Chandrayaan-3 is the third lunar exploration mission under the Chandrayaan programme of ISRO. India eyes to become the first country to reach the uncharted south pole region on the moon.

The ISRO announced that the Chandrayaan-3 Lander Module is scheduled to make a touch down near the south polar region of Earth’s natural satellite at 6.04 PM on August 23.

If the Chandrayaan-3 mission succeeds in landing a robotic lunar rover in ISRO's second attempt in four years, India will become the fourth country to master the technology of soft-landing on the lunar surface after the US, China and the erstwhile Soviet Union.

Where to watch Chandrayaan-3 live?

ISRO shared the images of the moon captured by the Lander Position Detection Camera (LPDC) from an altitude of about 70 km, on August 19, 2023 and on August 20.

In the latest update, ISRO said that the mission is on schedule, and the live telecast of the soft-landing begins at 5:20 PM today at the official website, isro.gov.in.

The module would undergo internal checks and await the sunrise at the designated landing site. The landing is expected to be initiated at around 5:45 pm.

“LPDC images assist the LM in determining its position (latitude and longitude) by matching them against an onboard moon reference map, according to the space agency,” it said on X (formerly Twitter).

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The Moon mission

The critical process of soft-landing has been dubbed by many including ISRO officials as "17 minutes of terror". After checking all the parameters and deciding to land, the Bengaluru-based national space agency will upload all the required commands from its Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu, to the LM, a couple of hours before the scheduled time touchdown.

According to ISRO officials, for landing, at around 30 km altitude, the lander enters the powered braking phase, and begins to use its four thruster engines by "retro firing" them to reach the surface of the moon, by gradually reducing the speed. This is to ensure the lander doesn't crash, as the Moon's gravity will also be in play, the PTI reported.

ISRO's Space Applications Centre Director Nilesh Desai said, "If any health parameter (of the lander module) is found abnormal on August 23, then we will delay the landing by four days to August 27," as per the report.

Chandrayaan-3: What happened so far

Chandrayaan-3 entered into the lunar orbit on August 5, following which orbit reduction manoeuvres were carried out on the satellite on August 6, 9, 14 and 16, ahead of separation of both its modules on August 17.

The lander and rover will have a mission life of one lunar day, which is about 14 earth days to study the surroundings. The lander will then deploy the rover which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility.

What happened to Chandrayaan-2?

Chandrayaan's maiden mission was in 2008. The objectives of Chandrayaan are to demonstrate safe and soft-landing on the lunar surface, roving on the Moon, and to conduct in-situ scientific experiments. Chandrayaan-2 had failed in its lunar phase when its lander 'Vikram' crashed into the surface of the Moon following anomalies in the braking system in the lander while attempting a touchdown on September 7, 2019.

Later, on July 14, 2023, the Rs 600 crore Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched onboard Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM-3) rocket, for a 41-day voyage to reach near the lunar south pole.

The soft-landing is being attempted days after Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the Moon after spinning out of control.

(With inputs from PTI)