Chandrayaan-3, India's third moon mission, that took off on July 14 from Satish Dhawan Space Station in Sriharikota and is expected to make a soft landing over the moon's South Pole with a lander and rover on August 23. The spacecraft was spotted by Polish telescope in deep space.
India's moon-bound spacecraft has travelled further towards its destination. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has raised its orbit for the fifth time.
India's moon-bound spacecraft Chandrayaan-3 was spotted by ROTUZ (Panoptes-4) telescope while it was cruising through the space. The private group of astronomers shared a video on social media on Tuesday (July 25) in which the spacecaft can be seen as small as the size of a dot in the space. The telescope is operated by Sybilla Tech.
Chandrayaan-3 to reach Moon on August 1
Chandrayaan-3 will enter Lunar orbit on August 1 when ISRO will guide it to the TransLunar Injection (TLI). ISRO said that the next firing is planned for August 1, 2023, between 12 midnight and 1 am IST.
After successful soft landing, which involves a series of complex manoeuvres, the rover will carry out experiments on the surface of the moon for around one lunar day. One lunar day consists of fourteen Earth Days.
Gaganyaan Mission update
ISRO informed that two more hot tests on the Gaganyaan Service Module Propulsion System were conducted successfully at IPRC/ISRO on July 26, 2023. It further stated that tests were conducted in pulsed and continuous modes necessary for the mission. Three more hot tests are scheduled to demonstrate de-boosting requirements and off-nominal mission scenarios.
