Chennai, August 1: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Tuesday successfully injected the Chandrayaan 3 -- spacecraft to the moon -- into the TransLunar orbit, an official said. "Chandrayaan-3 completes its orbits around the earth and heads towards the moon. A successful perigee-firing performed at ISTRAC, ISRO has injected the spacecraft into the translunar orbit. Next stop: the Moon. As it arrives at the moon, the Lunar-Orbit Insertion (LOI) is planned for August 5, 2023," ISRO tweeted.

Translunar orbit injection is the process whereby the moon-bound spacecraft is put into a trajectory so that it can reach the moon. The Indian space agency said it will carry out the LOI process on August 5, 2023. The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft was put into orbit on July 14, 2023, in a copybook style by India's heavy lift rocket LVM3. The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft comprises a propulsion module (weighing 2,148 kg), a lander (1,723.89 kg) and a rover (26 kg). PSLV-C56 Launch Video: ISRO Successfully Launches PSLV-C56 Rocket With Six Co-Passenger Satellites From Sriharikota, Says 'The Mission Is Successfully Accomplished'.

Chandrayaan 3 Update by ISRO:

The main object of the mission is to safely land the lander on the lunar soil. The lander will get separated from the propulsion module a couple of days after it enters lunar orbit. The lander is expected to make a soft-landing near the South Pole of the moon on August 23 evening at 5.47 p.m. The lander will descend to the moon from a height of about 100 km from the moon's surface. The soft landing is a tricky issue as it involves a series of complex manoeuvres consisting of rough and fine braking. Chandrayaan 3 Launched Video: ISRO Moon Mission Spacecraft Lifts Off From Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at Scheduled Time.

Imaging of the landing site region prior to landing will be done for finding safe and hazard-free zones. Subsequent to the soft landing, the six-wheeled rover will roll out and carry out experiments on the lunar surface for a period of one lunar day which is equal to 14 earth days.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 01, 2023 08:06 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).