According to the Indian Space Research Organization (Isro), the Chandrayaan-3 mission will try a soft landing on the Moon on Wednesday, August 23.
The space agency has asserted that all operations are running smoothly, and there is a daily routine of system checks to ensure their proper functioning.
On August 23, Isro announced on its X (previously Twitter) handle that a live broadcast of the landing procedures would start at 5:20.
Subsequent to the established communication between the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter and the Vikram lander, the countdown was initiated for the impending landing of the lander onto the lunar terrain.
The space agency also released photos of the moon taken on August 19, 2023, by the Lander Position Detection Camera (LPDC) at a height of around 70 km.
By comparing them to an onboard lunar reference map, the LPDC photos let the Landing Module determine its position (latitude and longitude), it claimed.
The potential delay in the gentle touchdown of Chandrayaan-3 could push the landing date to August 27, contingent upon the Moon’s unfavorable weather conditions for the spacecraft’s descent. This update comes from a former ISRO scientist.
Nilesh M. Desai, the Director of the Space Applications Centre-Isro in Ahmedabad, has outlined the current timeline for the mooncraft’s landing as August 23.
He stated, “The decision regarding the feasibility of Chandrayaan-3’s lunar landing on August 23 will be determined based on the condition of the lander module at that juncture.
We will land the module on the Moon on August 27 if any unfavorable circumstances arise. There should be no issues, and on August 23, we will be able to land the module, he told the ANI news agency.