India’s third lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3. Here’s a summary of the information provided:
- The countdown for the Chandrayaan-3 mission began at the SHAR Range in Sriharikota, India at 1:05 p.m. local time on Thursday.
- After the Mission Readiness Review, the Launch Authorization Board cleared the mission, initiating the countdown.
- The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on Twitter that the launch would take place at 2:35 p.m. on Friday.
- The mission will utilize the Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3-M4), ISRO’s heaviest rocket, to launch the integrated Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft module.
- The spacecraft will be placed in an Elliptic Parking Orbit of size 170 x 36500 km.
- Approximately 16 minutes after liftoff, Chandrayaan-3 will be injected into a 179 km Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), marking the beginning of its journey to the lunar surface.
- The soft landing on the Moon is expected to occur in the last week of August.
- The specific landing date will be determined based on the availability of sunlight on the Moon. ISRO Chairman S. Somanath mentioned that the landing is planned for August 23 or 24.
- If the landing does not occur as planned, ISRO will wait for another month and make a landing attempt in September.
- After landing, the lander and rover will remain on the Moon for 14 days, utilizing a small solar panel to generate power and charge the rover’s battery until sunlight returns.