HOW INDIA'S LANDER WILL GET TO THE MOON

The Chandrayaan-3 mission entered the final leg of its journey to the Moon on Thursday, with the separation of the Lander Module from the Propulsion Module. On X (formerly Twitter), the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) quoted the Lander saying "Thanks for the ride, mate!" to the Propulsion Module. We take a look at the separation process and what lies ahead

Set the controls for the south of the Moon

THE LANDER MODULE (LM), which also houses the lunar rover (the vehicle that run on the lunar surface), was carried to an orbit around the Moon by the propulsion module that will now function as a lunar orbiter, collecting data about the Earth's lone natural satellite. The LM will undertake the journey to the lunar surface through a series of "deboosting" operations".

The first deboosting was achieved on Friday afternoon. This reduced the orbit to 113 km X 157 km. The second deboosting is expected at 2 am on August 20-into a 100 km X 100 km orbit. The third and final deboosting will put the LM in a 100 km X 30 km orbit, and then the descent to a targeted site begins. Touchdown is targeted for August 23. All instruments of the Lander will be tested before this.

Deboosting

DEBOOSTING is the orbit reduction manoeuvre  in which the speed of a spacecraft is brought down in a calculated manner. In the LM's case, the targeted orbit for descent is 100 km apolune (the farthest point of the orbit from the lunar surface) and 30 km perilune (the nearest point).