All systems working fine, Chandrayaan-3 ready for soft moon landing on August 23: ISRO

Chandrayaan-3 is set to land on the moon at around 18:04 hours IST on Wednesday (August 23, 2023), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Monday (August 21, 2023).

ISRO Chairman and Secretary of the Department of Space S Somnath called on Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology and MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space Jitendra Singh to apprise him of the status and readiness of Chandrayaan-3 for the moon landing.

An official press release quoted Somnath as stating that all systems are working perfectly and no contingencies are anticipated on Wednesday. Until August 23, the health of Chandrayaan-3 will be continuously monitored. The final sequence of landing will be loaded two days ahead and tested out, he said.

MoS Singh expressed his confidence in Chandrayaan-3 making a soft landing this time and hoped that it will script a new history of planetary exploration under the guidance of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

While the Chandrayaan-2 mission was only partially successful since the lander lost contact after a hard landing, the ISRO successfully established two-way communication between the Chandrayaan-3 Lander Module and the still orbiting Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter.

Earlier today, the ISRO shared new images of the Lunar far side area captured by the Chandrayaan-3.

"Chandrayaan-3 Mission: Here are the images of Lunar far side area captured by the Lander Hazard Detection and Avoidance Camera (LHDAC).

This camera that assists in locating a safe landing area -- without boulders or deep trenches -- during the descent is developed by ISRO at SAC sac.gov.in #Chandrayaan_3 #Ch3", ISRO wrote, sharing the images on Twitter.

India will be the fourth country in the world to achieve this feat after the United States, Russia, and China, but India will be the only country in the world to land on the lunar South Pole. The primary objectives of the Chandrayaan-3 mission are threefold, (a) to demonstrate Safe and Soft Landing on Lunar Surface; (b) to demonstrate Rover roving on the moon, and (c) to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.

MoS Singh recalled that the first in the series of Chandrayaan, namely Chandrayaan-1, is credited for having discovered the presence of water on the surface of the Moon, which was a new revelation for the world and even the most premier Space agencies like the USA’s NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) were fascinated by this discovery and used the inputs for their further experiments.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on July 14, 2023 using the GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota.