Chandrayaan-3's Vikram Lander to detach today, Only 163 km away from Moon

The Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission has successfully created a nearly circular orbit around the moon. This comes after the spacecraft successfully completed a manoeuvre on Wednesday that placed it in an orbit around the moon.  The Vikram lander is scheduled to separate from the propulsion module today.

On August 23, the Pragyaan lander and rover are planned to touch down on the Moon. The Pragyaan rover, which will deploy its equipment to investigate seismic activity on the lunar surface, will be photographed by the Vikram lander when it lands on the Moon.

India's ambitious moon mission Chandrayaan-3 successfully completed its fifth and final lunar-bound orbit manoeuver yesterday, bringing its spacecraft even closer to the surface of the Moon. The spacecraft will now get ready to detach the Vikram lander from the propulsion module after finishing its lunar-bound manoeuvres.

On July 14, the LVM3 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota launched Chandrayaan-3 into orbit. On August 5, the spacecraft entered lunar orbit; on August 23, it is anticipated to touch down on the Moon. Yesterday, ISRO successfully completed all lunar-bound manoeuvres to position the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft into a 153 by 163 km circular orbit around the Moon.

The propulsion module will keep travelling in the same orbit once the Vikram lander separates from the spaceship. The Vikram lander will then make an attempt at a gentle landing on the Moon's surface on August 23. 

With Russia's Luna-25 and India's Chandrayaan-3 preparing for lunar landings next week, the race to the unknown south pole of the Moon is picking up speed. Each mission has important ramifications beyond the exciting rivalry in the skies.

• Chandrayaan 3
• Chandrayaan-3
• ISRO
• Moon
• Vikram Lander
• lunar mission
• Indian Space Research Organisation