Chandrayaan-3 is India’s third lunar mission under the Chandrayaan program. After over 20 days of its launch, Chandrayaan 3 released its first images of the lunar surface.
On August 5, 2023, the Chandrayaan-3 succesfully completed the Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI). With this, Chandrayaan 3 has been successfully inserted into a Lunar orbit.
Just after a day, ISRO released the first images of the Moon as viewed by Chandrayaan 3. Taking to their social media handler- X (formerly Twitter)- ISro noted, “The Moon, as viewed by #Chandrayaan3 spacecraft during Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) on August 5, 2023.”
The space agency released the video hours before the second major maneuver, which took place late Sunday night.
To gradually shorten Chandrayaan-3’s orbit and place it over the lunar poles, a sequence of maneuvers has been planned as the mission moves on. After a series of maneuvers, the propulsion module will eventually separate from the lander while in orbit. Then, on August 23, 2023, a series of complex braking maneuvers will be carried out to enable a soft landing in the South Polar region of the Moon.
ISRO stated, “The health of Chandrayaan-3 is normal. Throughout the mission, the health of the spacecraft is being continuously monitored from the Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking, and Command Network (ISTRAC), the Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) antenna at Byalalu, near Bengaluru, with the support from ESA and JPL Deep space antenna.”