Countdown to Touchdown' Indian Spacecraft Chandrayaan-3 Nears Moon for Epic Soft Landing

Chandrayaan-3: Indian spacecraft has gotten closer to the Moon and is on track to make a soft landing on Wednesday, August 23, on the lunar surface. On Sunday, the Lander Module (LM) of the Chandrayaan-3 project was successfully lowered in orbit, according to the ISRO. Chandrayaan-3, which was launched on July 14th, successfully separated its lander module from its propulsion module on Thursday, 35 days after the mission's initial launch. The goals of Chandrayaan-3's mission are to show a soft and safe lunar surface landing, lunar rover wandering, and in-situ scientific experimentation.

Chandrayaan-3's Imminent Moon Landing and Luna-25's Unplanned Collision

"Chandrayaan-3 is set to land on the moon on August 23, 2023, around 18:04 Hrs." ISRO said in a tweet.  The space agency Roscosmos reported on Sunday that Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft, which was intended to perform a soft landing on the south pole of the moon, has collided with the lunar surface. According to the Russian Space Agency, Luna-25's collision with the lunar surface was caused by a discrepancy between the propulsion maneuver's calculated and actual parameters, which sent Luna-25 into an unexpected orbit. “On August 19, by the Luna-25 flight program, an impulse was provided to form its pre-landing elliptical orbit. At about 14:57 Moscow time, communication with the Luna-25 apparatus was interrupted. The measures taken on August 19 and 20 to search for the device and get in contact with it did not produce any results," Roscosmos State Space Corporation said on its official Telegram channel.

Roscosmos Forms Interdepartmental Commission to Probe Luna-25's Failure

The space agency also stated that it has established an interdepartmental commission to investigate the causes of Luna-25's failure. The Russian space agency had reported some "abnormal situation" with Luna-25 hours prior to the accident. According to Roscosmos, the spacecraft ran into an unidentified problem while attempting to reach a pre-landing orbit. The precise nature of the issue is still unknown, and the agency's experts are actively investigating and assessing the circumstance.

Keep watching our YouTube Channel ‘DNP INDIA’. Also, please subscribe and follow us on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, and TWITTER.