ISRO tweeted that Chandrayaan-3 has reached closer to the moon.
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| Chandrayaan-3 |
Indian space agency ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 passed another orbit under the Moon's gravitational pull. The second orbital change process was completed on Wednesday afternoon. The distance of Chandrayaan-3 from the Moon is now only 1,437 km.
On Wednesday afternoon, ISRO tweeted that Chandrayaan-3 has reached closer to the moon. Its orbit is further reduced. The spacecraft is currently in a 174 km X 1437 km orbit. Chandrayaan-3 is orbiting the moon in that orbit. In other words, it has to cover another 1,437 km to reach the moon.
According to ISRO, Chandrayaan-3's next orbit change will be on August 14, between 11:30 am and 12:30 pm. Scientists are controlling the spacecraft at the Bangalore office.
Getting ever closer to the moon!
— LVM3-M4/CHANDRAYAAN-3 MISSION (@chandrayaan_3) August 9, 2023
The #Chandrayaan3 spacecraft successfully underwent a planned orbit reduction maneuver. The retrofiring of engines brought it closer to the Moon's surface, now to 174 km x 1437 km.
The next operation to further reduce the orbit is scheduled for… pic.twitter.com/vCTnVIMZ4R
This is the third of ISRO's missions to send an unmanned spacecraft to the Moon. ISRO's mission has failed twice before. However, Chandrayaan has been successfully sent to the moon's orbit before. At the last stage, there was a setback while landing on the moon. This time too, the whole country is looking towards the last and perhaps the most difficult phase. Chandrayaan-3's lander Vikram is scheduled to make a soft landing with rover Pragyan inside its belly on August 23 at 5:47 p.m. ISRO's 'Chandrayaan-2' mission failed at that stage four years ago. Lander Vikram of Chandrayaan-3 is supposed to land on the South Pole of the Moon. If the mission is successful, India's space research will undoubtedly reach new heights. After America, Russia and China, India will become the fourth country to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon.
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