Chandrayaan 3 Live Update, Landing Date and Time

After the historic landing of Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander on the Moon, Pragyan, the rover, has rolled down on the lunar surface. Both the lander and the rover are healthy.

India successfully landed its Chandrayaan-3 mission on the lunar surface on August 23, 2023, making it the fourth country to do so after the United States, Russia, and China. The lander Vikram touched down on the south pole of the moon, a region that has never been explored before. The rover Pragyan is expected to roll out of the lander and begin its exploration of the lunar surface in the coming days.

Fine Braking Start!!!!!

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The countdown begins as India's Chandrayaan-3 journey enters the final hour. The Lander Module ‘Vikram’ will make the landing attempt at 6:04 PM.

All set to initiate Automatic Landing Sequence, awaiting arrival of Lander Module at the designated point at around 5.44 p.m. ISRO

ISRO added that upon receiving the ALS command, the LM activates the throttleable engines for powered descent.

Lander payloads: Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) to measure the thermal conductivity and temperature; Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) for measuring the seismicity around the landing site; Langmuir Probe (LP) to estimate the plasma density and its variations. A passive Laser Retroreflector Array from NASA is accommodated for lunar laser ranging studies.

Rover payloads: Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) for deriving the elemental composition in the vicinity of landing site.

The Chandrayaan-3 that aims for a soft landing on the moon's surface, paving the way for future interplanetary missions, carries six payloads that would help ISRO understand the lunar soil and also get the blue planet's photographs from the lunar orbit.

Only three countries have managed a soft landing on the Moon so far–the United States, the erstwhile Soviet Union, and China and all of their spacecraft have landed near the equator of the Moon. There is a good reason for that. The polar regions of the Moon are relatively inhospitable and do not have the terrain and climate conducive to long-term space missions.

Moon landing of Chandrayaan-3 will start around 5:47 pm and continue till 6:04 pm, says former Isro director

All set to initiate the Automatic Landing Sequence (ALS), says Isro in latest tweet

The “15 minutes of terror” that make up the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s last moments ahead of landing comprises four phases:

1. Rough braking phase: During this phase, the lander’s horizontal velocity should reduce from around 6,000 kilometres per hour to near zero for a soft landing.
2. Attitude holding phase: At a height of around 7.43 kilometres above the lunar surface, the lander will tilt from a horizontal to a vertical position while covering a distance of 3.48 kilometres.
3. Fine breaking phase: This will last around 175 seconds, during which time, the lander will travel about 28.52 kilometres horizontally to the landing site while reducing the altitude by around 1 kilometre. Chandrayaan-2 lost control between the Attitude hold and the fine-breaking phases.
4. Terminal descent: This is the final stage when the fully vertical lander should drop down on the Moon’s surface.

The current location of ISRO's spacecraft heading towards moon is 25 km from the nearest point on the Earth's only natural satellite, and 134 km from from the farthest.

Chandrayaan-3 LIVE Updates: Former ISRO scientist, YS Rajan, said that 80 per cent of changes have been made to ensure safe landing of Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on moon.

NASA administrator Bill Nelson said the U.S. space agency was "looking forward" to what would be learned from the Indian mission.

On August 23, two hours before Chandrayaan-3 lands on the Moon, we will take a decision on whether or not it will be appropriate to land it at that time based on the health of the lander module and the conditions on the Moon. In case, if any factor appears to be not favourable, then we will land the module on the Moon on August 27, ISRO Scientist.

The most recent update from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) indicates that the Chandrayaan-3 mission is progressing smoothly, with all systems undergoing routine evaluations and checks.

As per the update shared by ISRO, India's third edition of the lunar mission series will mark its landing on the lunar surface at 6:04 pm on August 23. The live streaming will begin at 5:20 pm online.