India’s third Lunar exploratory mission
Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft was successfully placed in the precise orbit
by ISRO’s heaviest launch vehicle “Fat Boy’ LVM3-M4 on Friday from the
SHAR Range-SDSC here, marking the commencement of its 42-day long
journey towards the hither to unexplored Moon’s South Polar Region.
After a 25.5 hour countdown, the 43.5 m tall launch vehicle, with a lift off
mass of 642 tonnes, took off majestically from the Second Launch Pad
at 2.35 p.m from the SHAR Range, which was witnessed by tens
and hundreds of people, including school and college students and women,
who cheered every moment by carrying the Indian tricolour.
After the ignition and separation of all the three stages and after a flight
duration of 16 minutes, Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft was injected into a
179 km Orbit successfully amid jubilant scenes at the Mission Control
Centre.
ISRO tweeted after the launch, “LVM3 M4 vehicle successfully launched
Chandrayaan-3 into orbit.”
“Chandrayaan-3, in its precise orbit, has begun its journey to the Moon”,
it said.
The Health of the Spacecraft is normal, it added.
After undertaking orbit raising manoeuvers in the coming days, the
Chandrayaan-3 will begin its long journey for a safe landing and
roving on the lunar surface.
After a more than 3.8 lakh km journey, the soft landing was expected
to take place in the last week of August.
The landing date will be decided when there is sunrise on the moon.
“When we are landing, sunlight must be there. So the landing will
be on August 23 or 24,” according to ISRO Chairman S.Somanath,
who said the coming 42 days of the Chandrayaan-3’s journey was
very important and crucial.
The Chandrayaan-3 consists of an indigenous lander module (LM),
propulsion module (PM), and a rover with the objective of developing
and demonstrating new technologies required for future inter-planetary
missions.
The success of Chandrayaan-3 will make it the surface mission
closest to the lunar south pole to date, a region of the moon that
has been found to be geologically unique and host to spots in
permanent shadow.
A perfect soft landing on the Moon’s surface will make India the
fourth country to accomplish this feat, thereby joining a select
group of spacefaring nations.
Only three countries have managed to soft-land on the moon. For
USA, the success came after several failed attempts. It landed
Surveyor 1 on the moon in 1966 during the height of the space
race. China, on the other hand, landed Chang’e 3 successfully
on its first attempt. Just a few months before, Surveyor 1, of the
then Soviet Union achieved the first successful soft landing with
Luna 9.
India too nearly achieved in its maiden attempt when it launched
Chandryaan-2 in July 2019, before the lander crash landed very
close to the landing spot, making the mission about 99.99 per
cent success.
President Droupady Murmu, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankar,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister of State for
Science and Technology Jitendra Singh and various leaders
hailed the Team ISRO for achieving a monumental feat.
While the President termed it as another significant milestone
in space exploration, Mr Modi said Chandrayaan-3 scripts a new
chapter in India’s space odyssey and soars high, elevating the
dreams and ambitions of every Indian.
In a tweet, the President said “India successfully launches
Chandrayaan-3 marking another significant milestone in space
exploration.”
After the successful mission Mr Modi tweeted, “Chandrayaan-3
scripts a new chapter in India’s space odyssey. It soars high,
elevating the dreams and ambitions of every Indian.”
“This momentous achievement is a testament to our scientists’
relentless dedication”, he said.
“I salute their spirit and ingenuity!”, Mr Modi said.
Meanwhile, a beaming Mr Somanath, addressing the scientists
after the successful launch, said “Congrats India”.
Chandryaan-3 has started its journey to the moon.
The LVM3-M4 has precisely placed the Chandrayaan-3 in
the 170 x 36500 km Orbit.
“It will travel towards moon in the coming days after
undertaking orbit raising maneouvers”, he said.
Dr Jitendra Singh, who witnessed the launch from the
Mission Control Centre, termed the successful launch
of Chandrayaan-3 as a moment of glory for India and
the history in making.
Chandrayaan-3 will explore the unexplored horizons of
the lunar surface”, the Minister said, in his brief address.
The European Space Agency (ESA) will help ISRO in
tracking the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft.
ESA’s 15 m antenna in Kourou, French Guiana, will be
used to track Chandrayaan-3 to help ensure that the
spacecraft survived the rigours of lift off and is in good
health as it begins its journey to the Moon.
IT said as the spacecraft recedes from Earth, ESA will
coordinate tracking support from the 32-metre antenna
operated by Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd in the UK.
Goonhilly will support Chandrayaan-3’s propulsion and
lander modules. Crucially, it will support the lander
during the entire phase of lunar surface operations,
helping to ensure that science data acquired by the
rover arrives safely with ISRO in India.
The two European stations will compliment support from
NASA’s Deep Space Network and ISRO’s own stations to
ensure the spacecraft’s operators never lose sight of
their pioneering Moon craft.
