Chandrayaan-3 Latest News: Within the next 36 hours, a delicate touchdown is expected as the lander Vikram and the rover Pragyan prepare to embark on a 14-day lunar exploration mission.
The much-anticipated moment for India's third installment of lunar exploration is rapidly approaching, with the landing scheduled for Wednesday at 6:04 pm. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has also disclosed plans for a live broadcast of the event, set to commence at 5:20 pm on the same day.
On Monday, the Lander Module of Chandrayaan-3 successfully established a two-way communication link with Chandrayaan-2's orbiter, the second phase of the lunar mission series launched in 2019 with the objective of achieving a "soft landing" on the Moon's southern pole. Regrettably, it failed to make a successful landing on the lunar surface, losing communication after descending to an altitude as close as 2.1 km.
In the meantime, a senior scientist from ISRO on Monday stated, "If any unfavorable conditions arise, we will delay the lunar landing module's mission until August 27th." Chandrayaan-3 will undergo a series of maneuvers to orient itself into a vertical position, a critical step towards a secure lunar landing. This procedure is of utmost importance due to ISRO's previous setback in successfully landing its lander during the Chandrayaan-2 mission.
"The key challenge lies in transitioning from a horizontal to a vertical orientation. This is the aspect where we encountered difficulties last time," noted ISRO Chief S Somanath.
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Chandrayaan-3 Links Up with Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter in Lunar Orbit: