India: Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft set to land on moon August 23

Chandrayaan-3 is set to land on the moon on August 23, 2023, around 6.04 IST (UAE time 4.34pm) the ISRO announced officially on Sunday. The spacecraft is now just three-days away from its final destination, the moon’s south pole.

ISRO is bidding to make a successful soft landing on the moon, which will make India the fourth country in the world to achieve the feat after the United States, Russia and China.

Live telecast will be available on the ISRO website, its YouTube channel, Facebook, and public broadcaster DD National TV from 5.27pm IST (UAE time 3.57pm) on August 23, 2023.

India's Chandrayaan-3 mission marked giant leap in its lunar quest as the 'Vikram' lander module of the spacecraft successfully separated from the propulsion module on Thursday, and subsequently underwent crucial de-boosting manoeuvres and descended to a slightly lower orbit.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission's lander is named after Vikram Sarabhai (1919–1971), who is widely regarded as the father of the Indian space programme.

A GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle was used for the launch of the spacecraft that was placed in the lunar orbit on August 5, and since then it has been through a series of orbital manoeuvres as it lowered closer to the moon’s surface.

It has been a month and six days since the Indian Space Research Organisation launched the Chandrayaan-3 mission on July 14. The spacecraft was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota.

Chandrayaan-3 components include various electronic and mechanical subsystems intended to ensure a safe and soft landing such as navigation sensors, propulsion systems, guidance and control, among others.

The stated objectives of Chandrayaan-3, India's third lunar mission, are safe and soft landing, rover roving on the moon's surface, and in-situ scientific experiments.

The approved cost of Chandrayaan-3 is Rs2.5 billion (excluding launch vehicle cost).

Chandrayaan-3’s development phase commenced in January 2020 with the launch planned sometime in 2021. However, the Covid pandemic brought an unforeseen delay to the mission's progress.

Chandrayaan-3 is the ISRO's follow-up attempt after the Chandrayaan-2 mission faced challenges during its soft landing on the lunar surface in 2019 and was eventually deemed to have failed its core mission objectives.

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