Chandrayaan-3 gets closer to 100km circular orbit; 1 move away before Vikram separation | India News

BENGALURU: Isro has further reduced the altitude of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, which was in an elliptical orbit around Moon with an Apolune (farthest point from Moon) of 1,437km before the manoeuvre carried out Monday.

“Orbit circularisation phase commences. Precise maneuvre performed today has achieved a near-circular orbit of 150km x 177km. The next operation is planned for August 16, 2023, around 8.30am,” Isro said.
Under the ambit of Isro System for Safe and Sustainable Space Operations Management (IS4OM) critical analysis of each of the lunar-bound manoeuvres for orbit lowering are being performed to assess potential risks of close approaches with the other lunar orbiters before executing the manoeuvres.

On August 9, Isro had guided Chandrayaan-3 to an orbit of 174km x 1,437km and three days before that, late on August 6, the spacecraft’s second Moon-bound manoeuvre, which came a day after the lunar orbit insertion put it in an elliptical lunar orbit, the spacecraft’s altitude at Apolune (farthest point from Moon) was reduced from 18,074km to 4,313km.
Since the launch on July 14, Chandrayaan-3 has completed five Earth-bound manoeuvres between July 15 and 25, which raised its altitude to more than 1.2-lakh-km at Apogee (farthest point from Earth), the trans-lunar injection (TLI) on August 1, which put it in a path towards Moon at an altitude of nearly 3.6-lakh-km, the lunar orbit insertion (LOI) on August 5 and three manoeuvres thereafter.