Vikram Lander completes the last deboosting on Chandrayaan 3, and is currently just 25 kilometers from the lunar surface
Following the successful completion of the second and final deboosting operation by Vikram on Sunday, India’s ambitious Chandrayaan 3 Moon mission is prepared to try a gentle landing. Vikram Lander has now been put in a lunar orbit where it is just 25 KM from the moon’s surface after completing the most crucial procedure. It will now continue to circle the Moon for around 3 more days, with a maximum distance of just 134 km from the surface.
The rover-equipped Vikram Lander on Chandrayan 3 will now make an attempt at a gentle landing sometime on Wednesday from this location in the orbit. India will become just the fourth country to successfully land on the moon.
In addition, Chandrayaan 3 may become the first lunar mission to soft land on the less traveled south pole of the moon, creating history as the first lunar expedition.
However, it will face competition from Russia’s Luna 25, which is also placed in a lunar orbit and will make an attempt at a soft landing on a portion of the moon close to its south pole.
On August 22, Luna 25 is anticipated to make a gentle landing attempt.
Interesting, Chandrayaan-3 was launched on July 14, about a month before Luna was launched on August 11.
Chandrayaan-3 will arrive to the Moon’s surface later than Luna 25 because the Indian space agency used a different route to send its probe into the lunar orbit. Chandrayaan 3 is being sent into lunar orbit by ISRO utilizing the Earth and Moon’s gravitational pull since a more potent launch vehicle is not available.
