Vikram set for Moon landing on Wed;
'AWAITING SUNRISE
Chandrayaan3's lunar manoeuvre,
lander Vikram slips into its pre-landing orbit of 25x134km around Moon
Chandrayaan-3 entered the lest lap of its
historic journey to Moon early Sunday with lander Vikram comp leting its second
and final "deboost" ma- noeuvre, slowing down the spacecraft and
taking position in a pre-landing or bit of 25x134km for a controlled touch-
down at 6.04pm on August 23,
Isro chief Somanath said there are
possibilities of the battery life getting recharged upon the next sunrise
CHANDRAYAAN-3
An illustration showing Isro's
"Chandrayaan-3' after the orbit of Landing Module was successfully reduced
to 25 km x 134 km
If all
goes well with Chandrayaan-3's cru- cial landing manoeuvre on Wednesday rover
Pragyan will slidedown from Vikram -a move that will be cap- tured by cameras
on the lan- der-and begin to move on the lunar surface using its wheels Pragyan
is also equipped with cameras for obstacle avoidance.
These missions are part of a renewed interest
globally to return to Moon and efforts for a more sustained pres ence. Apart
from these, the lu nar orbit is already crowded, albeit low compared to Earth
orbits, posing a challenge of collisions for all lunar mis sions. Explaining
why Vik- ram's landing is planned on the day Sun rises on Moon, Isro chairman
Somanath had said earlier: "We want the landing to happen when Sun rises
on Moon so get 14-15 (Earth) days to work. If the first two days (Sun rise and
the next day).
As of now, the movement is calibrated for 14
days, and Isro will map the distance it covers. In case the lifespan of the
lander and rover gets ex- tended, Pragyan will travel more. Chandrayaan-3 and
Luna-25, which ended in fail- ure on Sunday were the first among at least 10 other
lunar now and 2025, with the US, Is rael, China and Japan- in- India-all eyeing
the Moon. with India.
"Once Sun sets, there will be no power
for the lander the rover at all times and rover to function, and all the
equipment will stop working However, our tests show that there are possibili
ties of the battery getting re charged upon the next Sun- rise. If that
happens, we could get another 14 days, or maybe even more," Isro chairman
S ill-treatment, "a devotee said. Somanath said.
