Chandrayaan-3 lander module separation later today; here's what ex-ISRO boss K Sivan says about the mission

India's lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3, moved even closer to the Moon on Wednesday after completing all of its Moon-bound manoeuvres. With this, the much-anticipated mission is now gearing up for a major milestone -- separation of the landing module comprising Vikram (the lander) and Pragyan (the rover) from the propulsion module — later today.

"Today's successful firing, needed for a short duration, has put Chandrayaan-3 into an orbit of 153 km x 163 km, as intended. With this, the lunar bound manoeuvres are completed. It's time for preparations as the Propulsion Module and the Lander Module gear up for their separate journeys," ISRO said on Wednesday in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Separation of the lander module from the propulsion module is planned for August 17, it said.

Meanwhile, former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K Sivan has expressed optimism about the soft landing of India's ambitious Chandrayaan-3 mission on the Moon on August 23. Talking about Chandrayaan-3, Sivan, who was heading the space agency during Chandrayaan-2 mission, said the lander's touch down on August 23 "is a great moment we are looking forward to."

He said that Chandrayaan-2 had also gone through all these phases successfully, and during the landing's second phase, an "issue" came up, and the mission couldn't be achieved as intended. Sivan then expressed confidence about the success of the latest moon mission, Chandrayaan-3.

"Now definitely more anxiety will be there on the landing manoeuvre. Last time it couldn't be successful. This time everyone is waiting for the great moment. I'm sure it will be successful because we have understood the failures we had during Chandrayaan-2. We have corrected it and, in addition to that, wherever margins were less, extra margins are added. Wherever redundancy was not there, that also now has been provided. This time we are expecting the mission will be successful. We are confident in that," he told news agency PTI.

Commenting on the lander and propulsion module separation, Sivan said that the manoeuvre is very critical as any activity in space is a critical activity. "It is very important and we are expecting that it would be normal and will go successfully without any problem."

Following its launch on July 14, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft entered into lunar orbit on August 5, following which orbit reduction manoeuvres were carried out on August 6, 9 and 14.

As the mission progressed, a series of manoeuvres were conducted by ISRO to gradually reduce Chandrayaan-3's orbit and position it over the lunar poles.

After separation, the lander is expected to undergo a "deboost" (the process of slowing down) to place it in an orbit where the Perilune (closest point to the Moon) is 30 kilometres and Apolune (farthest point from the Moon) is 100 km. From this orbit, the soft landing on the south polar region of the Moon will be attempted on August 23, ISRO has said.

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