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India is making significant progress towards achieving its goal of a soft landing on the Moon with its Chandrayaan-3 mission. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched the Launch Vehicle Mark 3 (LVM 3) rocket on July 14, 2023, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. The lift-off was smooth and the stage separations were executed as planned.

After about 16 minutes, Chandrayaan-3 separated from the rocket and entered an elliptical cycle orbit around the Earth, with its closest distance at 170 km and its farthest at 36,500 km.

Since then, ISRO has performed several orbit-raising maneuvers to bring Chandrayaan-3 closer to the Moon. The first maneuver took place on July 15, followed by the second on July 17 and the third on July 18. On July 25, the fourth and fifth maneuvers were completed.

On August 1, Chandrayaan-3 successfully escaped Earth’s orbit and began its journey towards the Moon with a slingshot move. It entered the lunar orbit on August 5 after a retro-burning maneuver. Subsequent orbit reduction maneuvers on August 6 and 9 brought the spacecraft closer to the Moon’s surface.

On August 14, Chandrayaan-3 achieved a near-circular orbit of 150 km x 177 km. The lunar bound maneuvers were completed on August 16 when the spacecraft reached an orbit of 153 km x 163 km.

A significant milestone was achieved on August 17 when the Vikram lander detached from the propulsion module. On August 18 and 20, the lander successfully underwent deboosting maneuvers to position itself for the soft landing, which is scheduled for August 23.

If successful, India will join the elite club of countries that have accomplished lunar landings, including the US, Russia, and China. This mission brings India closer to its dream of a soft landing on the Moon and hoisting the Indian tricolor on its natural satellite.

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