Chandrayaan-3 lander establishes connection with special 'buddy' ahead of historic lunar landing
Chandrayaan-3 is set to land on the moon on August 23, 2023, around 18:04 Hrs. IST.
As more than a billion Indians prepare for a historic moment of lunar touchdown on August 23rd, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has said that communication with the orbiter of partially successful Chandrayaan-2 mission has been established.
While the Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-2 was lost in August 2019, the Pradan orbiter remains in an orbit around the Moon.
In a post on X, previously known as Twitter, ISRO said that the orbiter of Chandrayaan-2 sent a welcome message to the Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-3 mission. The Vikram lander is scheduled to land on Moon's southern pole, following which India will become the first nation in the world to land on Moon's southern pole.
"'Welcome, buddy!' Ch-2 orbiter formally welcomed Ch-3 LM. Two-way communication between the two is established. MOX has now more routes to reach the LM," India's space agency said in its post.
It also informed that the live telecast of the landing will begin at 5.20 PM, Indian Standard Time (11:50 AM, GMT) on August 23 (Wednesday).
Vikram has already sent home the images of the Moon's craters on the unexplored lunar south pole region. The south pole region of Moon always faces away from the Earth.
The images, captured last week, identified the craters: Hayn, Boss L, Mare Humboldtianum, and Bel'kovich.
Former ISRO chief and in-charge of the previous lunar mission Chandrayaan-2, Dr K.Sivan, on Monday said that the mission will be a "grand success".
"It's a very anxious moment...I'm sure that this time it will be a grand success," Sivan told news agency ANI.
Also watch |Chandrayaan-3: India set to become fourth country to land on the moon
The landing will be covered live on the ISRO website, its YouTube channel, Facebook, and India's state broadcaster Doordarshan.
The lander module of the spacecraft successfully separated from the propulsion module last week. It then underwent crucial "deboosting" manoeuvres and descended to a slightly lower orbit.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission's lander is named after Vikram Sarabhai (1919-1971), the father of the Indian space programme.
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