Chandrayaan-3 landing update: ISRO says it is all set for Automatic Landing Sequence

Chandrayaan-3 Moon landing: Hours before the historic moon landing today, ISRO, sharing an update on Wednesday, noted that the space agency is all set to initiate the Automatic Landing Sequence. India's ambitious third Moon mission Chandrayaan-3's Lander Module (LM) is all set to land on the lunar surface at 6.04 PM on Wednesday.

ISRO tweeted that it is awaiting the arrival of Lander Module (LM) at the designated point, which is slated to happen around 5.44 PM IST.  

"All set to initiate the Automatic Landing Sequence (ALS). Awaiting the arrival of Lander Module (LM) at the designated point, around 17:44 Hrs. IST. Upon receiving the ALS command, the LM activates the throttleable engines for powered descent. The mission operations team will keep confirming the sequential execution of commands. The live telecast of operations at MOX begins at 17:20 Hrs. IST," ISRO posted on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, ISRO said the mission is on schedule and systems are undergoing regular checks. "Smooth sailing is continuing. The Mission Operations Complex (at ISRO) is buzzed with energy and excitement!" ISRO posted on X, formerly Twitter. ISRO also released images of the moon photographed from a height of around 70 km.

“The mission is on schedule. Systems are undergoing regular checks. Smooth sailing is continuing. The Mission Operations Complex (MOX) is buzzed with energy & excitement! The live telecast of the landing operations at MOX/ISTRAC begins at 17:20 Hrs. IST on August 23, 2023. Here are the images of the moon captured by the Lander Position Detection Camera (LPDC) from an altitude of about 70 km, on August 19, 2023. LPDC images assist the Lander Module in determining its position (latitude and longitude) by matching them against an onboard moon reference map,” ISRO said on Tuesday.

 

 

The LM comprising the lander (Vikram) and the rover (Pragyan), is scheduled to make a touch down near the south polar region of the Moon at 6:04 pm on Wednesday.  The biggest challenge for the lander will be to reduce its speed from 1.68km/s (6,048km/hr) horizontally to zero.

Then change direction, so that the craft can land vertically on the lunar surface. “This is the most critical task,” said the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chief S Somanath, who is the main lead behind the mission. The lander's touchdown test limit is only ≤ 3.0 m/sec (10.8km/hr) vertical velocity.

In 2019, ISRO's Chandrayaan-2 mission successfully deployed an orbiter but its lander crashed.

The Rs 600 crore mission was launched on July 14 onboard Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM-3) rocket, for a 41-day voyage to reach near the lunar south pole.

On Wednesday, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said that this is the last leg of the Chandrayaan 3 operation and everyone is anxiously looking forward to it.

He told news agency ANI that ISRO has conducted considerable studies and simulations and strengthened its designs so that the mission's success probability improves.

If Chandrayaan-3 lander soft landing is successful, India will become the first nation to reach the celestial body's South Pole, which is considered as a difficult terrain. 

On Monday, Nilesh M Desai, Director, Space Applications Centre-ISRO, Ahmedabad, said that the Chandrayaan-3's landing on Moon may get postponed to August 27 if the space agency finds the position of the lander is not suitable for the descent. 

He said the space agency will take a decision on whether or not it will be appropriate to land Chandrayaan-3 two hours before the landing is actually scheduled. 

"If we feel that the position of the lander is not suitable for landing, then we will extend it to August 27. We will try to land the lander on August 23," Desai explained on Monday.

After the touchdown, the Chandrayaan-3 is expected to remain functional for two weeks, running a series of experiments including a spectrometer analysis of the mineral composition of the lunar surface. 

Also read: Chandrayaan-3 moon landing LIVE updates: Less than 5 hours to go! ISRO all set to initiate automatic landing sequence

Also read: Chandrayaan-3: If it's so dangerous, why did ISRO pick Moon's south pole to land?