Chandrayaan-3 Launch: When will soft landing on Moon happen after successful flight? Know Expected Date & Time

Sriharikota: “Carrying the hopes and dreams of the entire nation”, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on Friday launched its third lunar mission – Chandrayaan 3 on a heavy-lift LVM3-M4 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. , At the end of the 25.30 hour countdown, the LVM3-M4 rocket, the largest and heaviest in its class and nicknamed the ‘Fat Boy’, lifted off from the second launch pad in a thick plume of smoke at the scheduled time of 2.35 p.m. Woke up brilliantly. ,

Thousands of spectators who gathered to witness the historic launch cheered the rocket as it soared into the sky. With the Chandrayaan-3 mission, scientists are aiming to master the soft landing on the lunar surface, a challenging technical aspect that is planned for late August. A successful mission would make India the fourth country after the United States, China and the former Soviet Union to achieve this rare feat.

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LVM3 M4/Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
LVM3 M4 vehicle successfully launched Chandrayaan-3 into orbit. – ISRO (@isro) 14 July 2023

How long is the journey from Earth to the Moon?

The journey from Earth to the Moon for the spacecraft is estimated to take about a month and the landing is expected on August 23. Upon landing, it will operate for one lunar day, which is roughly equivalent to 14 Earth days. One day on the Moon is equal to 14 days on Earth. Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar exploration mission, will make India the fourth country after the US, China and Russia to land its spacecraft on the lunar surface and demonstrate the country’s capabilities for safe and soft landing on the lunar surface .

Chandrayaan-3 is ISRO’s follow-up effort after the Chandrayaan-2 mission faced challenges during its soft landing on the lunar surface in 2019 and was ultimately deemed to have failed in its main mission objectives.

Chandrayaan-3 will be put into Lunar Transfer Trajectory after orbit raising maneuvers. It will reach the Moon in the coming weeks, covering a distance of over 300,000 km. The scientific instruments onboard will study the lunar surface and enhance our knowledge.

Chandrayaan-3 is equipped with a lander, a rover and a propulsion module. Its weight is about 3,900 kg. The Moon serves as a repository of Earth’s past and a successful lunar mission by India will help foster life on Earth, while also enabling it to explore the rest of the Solar System and beyond.

When will be the soft landing on the moon?

If things go according to plan, Chandrayaan-3 lander Vikram will land on the lunar surface at 5.47 pm on August 23 after a 40-day journey, according to two top ISRO scientists.

After the failure of the last stage of Chandrayaan-2, this time ISRO has made elaborate arrangements and even the smallest calculations to ensure a safe landing for its third Moon mission. ISRO’s Bengaluru station will track and monitor the final landing, scheduled for August 23.

Unlike Chandrayaan-2, this time the lander will be tracked from ISRO’s Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) station in Bengaluru. As per calculations, Vikram is expected to touchdown on the Moon at 5.47 pm on August 23. However, there may be slight variation due to change in mission profile.

ISRO confirmed in a tweet that the spacecraft GSLV Mark III (LVM III) has successfully launched Chandrayaan-3 into orbit. ISRO scientists announced the successful separation of the satellite from the launch vehicle. The satellite has now been placed in the desired orbit to begin its journey to the Moon. “Chandrayaan-3, in its precise orbit, has started its journey towards the Moon. The health of the spacecraft is normal,” ISRO tweeted minutes after the launch.

PM Modi congratulated ISRO for the successful launch

July 14, 2023 will always be written in golden letters in the history of India’s space sector, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the launch of the much-awaited Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar mission.

PM Modi had earlier tweeted, “This remarkable mission will carry forward the hopes and dreams of our nation.” “Thanks to our scientists, India has a very rich history in the space sector. Chandrayaan-1 is considered a pioneer in global lunar missions as it confirmed the presence of water molecules on the Moon. It was featured in over 200 scientific publications from across the world,” PM Modi wrote on Twitter.

“Until Chandrayaan-1, the Moon was considered a bone-dry, geologically inactive and uninhabitable celestial body. Now, it is seen as a dynamic and geologically active body with the presence of water and sub-surface ice,” he said, claiming that it could potentially be inhabited in the future.

Chandrayaan-2

Chandrayaan-2 was equally pioneering as data from its orbiter detected the presence of chromium, manganese and sodium for the first time through remote sensing. PM Modi said that this would give more information about the magical evolution of the Moon.

Major scientific outcomes of Chandrayaan-2 include the first global map for lunar sodium, enhanced knowledge on crater size distribution, clear detection of lunar surface water ice with the IIRS instrument and much more. The mission has been featured in nearly 50 publications.

Extending best wishes for the Chandrayaan-3 mission, PM Modi urged people to know more about this lunar mission and the progress made by India in space, science and innovation. “It would make all of you very proud,” he said.

The development phase of Chandrayaan-3 began in January 2020 and the launch was planned sometime in 2021. However, there was an unexpected delay in the progress of the mission due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Former ISRO director K Sivan told ANI that the success of mission Chandrayaan-3 will boost the morale of programs like Gaganyaan, India’s first human space mission.

Chandrayaan-3 mission is going to be successful and it will be a game-changer event for India, former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan, who played a key role in innovation in the country’s space sector, said on Thursday.

“Chandrayaan-3 will surely prove to be a game changer for India and I am hopeful that it will be successful. India will become an inspiration for the whole world. Let’s wait for the launch and pray for the best,” said Nambi Narayanan.