ISRO successfully performs orbit reduction manoeuvre, brings Chandrayaan-3 closer to moon

Published on: 07 Aug 2023 at 10:21 AM

Published by: thefactnews

The Fact News Service

New Delhi, August 7

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Sunday said the GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle, which lifted off successfully with the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, underwent a planned orbit reduction manoeuvre, bringing it closer to the moon.

The space agency said it will carry out the next such operation on August 9.

“The spacecraft successfully underwent a planned orbit reduction manoeuvre. The retrofitting of engines brought it closer to the Moon’s surface, now to 170 km x 4313 km. The next operation to further reduce the orbit is scheduled for August 9, between 13:00 and 14:00 hours IST,” the ISRO tweeted on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the space agency on Sunday put out the first images of the moon as captured by Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar mission.

Chandrayan-3 captured stunning images of the lunar surface after entering the Moon’s orbit on Saturday.
“The Moon, as viewed by #Chandrayaan3 spacecraft during Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) on August 5, 2023,” tweeted the Mission’s official Twitter handle.

The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, which covered about two-thirds of the distance to the Moon since its launch, successfully entered into the Lunar orbit on Saturday, according to ISRO.
The spacecraft, mounted on GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle, successfully lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota on July 14.