Chandrayaan-3 lander separates from propulsion module; on course for historic soft landing on moon on Aug 23

India's Chandrayaan-3 mission on Thursday achieved a major milestone when its Lander Module carrying the rover inside successfully separated from the Propulsion Module to be on course for an unprecedented soft-landing on the moon's south pole planned on August 23.

The Lander Module comprising the lander Vikram and rover Pragyan is now ready to be lowered to an orbit that takes it closer to the moon's surface. The soft landing on the lunar south pole is scheduled at 5.47 pm next Wednesday.

"Thanks for the ride, mate! said the Lander Module (LM). LM is successfully separated from the Propulsion Module (PM). LM is set to descend to a slightly lower orbit upon a deboosting planned for tomorrow around 1600 Hrs IST," the Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The estimated
Rs 600 crore Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on July 14, a far more complicated 41-day voyage to reach the lunar south pole.

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

The Propulsion Module will continue its journey in the current orbit for months/years, the ISRO said.

"Now really the match starts. These are the final overs we are talking about," Chandrayaan-I Project Director M Annadurai told PTI.

Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 and its objectives are to demonstrate safe and soft landing on the lunar surface, roving on the moon, and to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.

Chandrayaan-2 had failed in its lunar phase when its lander 'Vikram' crashed into the surface of the moon following anomalies in the braking system in the lander while attempting a soft landing on September 7, 2019. Chandrayaan's maiden mission was in 2008.

The lander has the capability to soft land at a specified lunar site and deploy the rover that will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the moon's surface during the course of its mobility.

The lander and the rover have scientific payloads to carry out experiments on the lunar surface.