ISRO to place Chandrayaan-3 in 100km circular lunar orbit tomorrow
What's the story
Chandrayaan-3 is just a step away from the crucial lander separation phase. Tomorrow, around 8:30am, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will perform the last Moon-bound maneuver on the spacecraft. This crucial operation will place the spacecraft into a 100km circular orbit. In that stage, the Apolune (farthest point from the Moon) and Perilune (closest point to the Moon) will be 100km.
Details
Lander separation will be performed on August 17
After tomorrow's orbit adjustment, the next operation on Chandrayaan-3 is scheduled for August 17. That maneuver will detach the landing module, which consists of the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover, from the propulsion module. ISRO will then position the landing module in an elliptical orbit. Subsequent de-boost maneuvers will place Vikram in an orbit with a 30km Perilune and a 100km Apolune.
Landing
The final landing is planned for August 23
The final landing attempt for the mission is scheduled for August 23. The most critical aspect of the landing involves reducing the lander module's velocity from a height of 30km to its final touchdown near the Moon's south pole. The Vikram lander would have to be shifted from a horizontal to a vertical direction for landing, which ISRO couldn't achieve during Chandrayaan-2.