Chandrayaan 3’s epic journey to culminate in historic south pole Moon landing – A timeline

Over a month after its launch on a GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle from Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, Chandrayaan 3 is all set to land on the uncharted south pole of the Moon on Wednesday, making India the first country to do so.

Isro announced that the powered descent of the lander module currently in 25km x 134km orbit is expected at 5.45pm and touchdown at 6.04pm. Chandrayaan 3’s primary objective is to demonstrate end-to-end landing and roving capabilities in the highlands near the south pole of the Moon and conduct in-situ experiments.

Here’s the timeline of Chandrayaan 3 mission:

July 11, 2023: The rehearsal simulating the entire launch preparation of Chandrayaan 3 and the process lasting 24 hours was concluded.

July 14, 2023: Chandrayaan 3 lifted off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on a GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle at 2.35pm IST. Chandrayaan-3, in its precise orbit, begins its journey to the Moon.

July 15, 2023: The first orbit-raising manoeuvre was successfully performed, taking the spacecraft to 41762 km x 173 km orbit.

July 17, 2023: The second orbit-raising manoeuvre was performed, putting the spacecraft into 41603 km x 226 km orbit.

July 22, 2023: In its fourth orbit-raising maneuver, Earth-bound perigee firing was completed and Chadrayaan 3 was put into 71351 km x 233 km orbit.

August 01, 2023: Chandrayaan 3 was inserted into the translunar orbit at 288 km x 369328 km, entering the moon’s sphere of influence.

August 05, 2023: Chandrayaan-3 was successfully inserted into the lunar orbit as per the plan. A retro-burning at the Perilune was commanded from the Mission Operations Complex (MOX), ISTRAC, Bengaluru. The orbit achieved was 164 km x 18074 km, as intended.

August 06, 2023: Chandrayaan 3 successfully underwent a planned orbit reduction maneuver, placing itself in the second orbit or Lunar Bound Phase 2, which is 170 km away from the moon’s surface at its nearest point.

August 09, 2023: The orbit of the spacecraft is reduced to 174 km x 1437 km following a manoeuvre.

August 14, 2023: Chandrayaan mission enters the orbit circularisation phase, with the spacecraft in a near-circular orbit of 151 km x 179 km orbit.

August 16, 2023: The lunar bound maneuvres were completed after the spacecraft entered 153 km x 163 km orbit following the firing, needed for a short duration.

August 17, 2023: The lander module successfully separated from the Propulsion Module to embark on separate journeys.

August 19, 2023: The lander module successfully underwent a deboosting operation that reduced its orbit to 113 km x 157 km.

August 20, 2023: The second and final deboosting operation successfully reduced the lander module orbit to 25 km x 134 km. The powered descent is expected to commence on August 23, 2023, around 5.45pm IST.