'We will soon be browsing surface of Moon,' says Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Thursday reacted to successful separation of Chandrayaan-3’s lander module, the Vikram from the spacecraft’s propulsion module and said, “I hope that we will soon be browsing the surface of the Moon.” Around 1:30 pm on Thursday (17 August, 2023), the lander module of Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft successfully separated from the propulsion module. “The journey that Chandrayaan as a programme, and Chandrayaan-3 in particular, has been one that makes every Indian proud. We have certainly demostrated to the world…. India is among the leading nations in the world in terms of this time of capability,” Chandrasekhar said. “I am very pleased today that Chandrayaan-3 has completed the separation phase successfully and I hope that we will soon be browsing the surface of the Moon,” the minister said.

After the successful separation from the propulsion module, ISRO posted on X (formerly knows as Twitter), “Thank for the ride, mate!, said the Lander Module (LM)” The space organisation also said Lander Module is set to descend to a slightly lower orbit upon a deboosting planned for Friday (18 August, 2023) around 4 pm IST.

“Meanwhile, the Propulsion Module continues its journey in the current orbit for months/years. The SHAPE payload onboard it would: perform spectroscopic study of the Earth’s atmosphere and, measure the variations in polarization from the clouds on Earth – to accumulate signatures of Exoplanets that would qualify for our habitability! This payload is SHAPEd by U R Rao Satellite Centre/ISRO, Bengaluru," ISRO added. Following the separation, the lander has now entered its “deboost” phase. It is now is scheduled to perform a soft landing on the south pole of the Moon, on August 23. Following its landing, ISRO will soon get the Pragyan rover working its margin on the Moon. Now, Vikram lander will slowly start accelerating in a direction opposite the Moon’s gravitational pull so that the lander’s velocity gradually decreases, as it approaches the lunar surface. Think of this manoeuvre as slowly tapping the brakes of your car or bike to slow it down. The Vikram lander is at a junction where the closest point on the moon, known as Peruline, will be 30 kilometres away, and its farthest point, the Apolune, will be about 100 kilometres from the Moon.