Chandrayaan 3 Successfully Enters Moon's Orbit, Next Manoeuvre Tomorrow, Says ISRO

The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft has successfully entered the moon's orbit, ISRO said on Saturday. The spacecraft covered about two-thirds of the distance to the Moon since its launch on July 14, and is expected to attempt soft landing on the moon on August 23.

"Chandrayaan-3 has been successfully inserted into the lunar orbit. A retro-burning at the Perilune was commanded from the Mission Operations Complex (MOX), ISTRAC ( ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network ) , Bengaluru," the agency said in a tweet. 

ISRO also shared a message from the satellite to its centres, which read,"MOX, ISTRAC, this is Chandrayaan-3. I am feeling lunar gravity." 

Over five moves in the three weeks since the launch, ISRO has been lifting the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft into orbits farther and farther away from Earth. Then, on August 1 in a key manoeuvre -- a slingshot move -- the craft was sent successfully towards the Moon from Earth's orbit.

Following this trans-lunar injection, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft escaped from orbiting the Earth and began following a path that would take it to the vicinity of the moon. 

The space agency earlier said that the health of India's third lunar mission is normal and a soft-landing on the lunar surface would be attempted on August 23. Chandrayaan-3 is equipped with a lander, a rover, and a propulsion module. It weighs around 3,900 kilograms. Scientific instruments onboard will study the Moon’s surface.

What will happen after Chandrayaan 3 reaches moon's orbit?

As part of the Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI), the spacecraft will be embedded in an orbit around the moon, a maneuver that will be performed from ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru.

Once the spacecraft reaches lunar orbit, another series of manoeuvres will lead to the separation of the craft from the Propulsion Module for descent to the South Pole of the Moon.