Chennai, Aug 22 (UNI) With the expectations and excitement building up

with every passing second, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)

on Tuesday said the Chandrayaan-3 mission is on schedule and sailing

smooth for a soft landing on the South Polar Region of moon tomorrow

evening.

The systems are undergoing regular checks and the Mission Operations

Complex (MOX) was buzz with energy and excitement.

ISRO in a tweet said "Chandrayaan-3 : the mission is on schedule."

"Systems are undergoing regular checks. Smooth sailing is continuing", it

said.

"The MOX is buzzed with energy & excitement!" and the live telecast of the

landing operations at MOX/ISTRAC will begin at 1720 hrs on August 23, 2023.

ISRO sources said "The powered descent of lander for a soft landing on the

Moon's surface will take place from a height of about 25 km with a speed

of 1.6 km per second.

The focus of ISRO scientists will be on reducing that speed since the Moon's

gravitational force will also play a part.

The lander will begin its moon landing descent at 6.04 p.m., two hours after

the commands were uploaded and the telemetry signals were analysed.

The soft landing is a tricky and challenging task as it involves a series of

complex manoeuvres that included rough and fine braking.

Prior to landing, imaging of the landing site will be done for locating safe

and hazard-free zones.

The lander will descend towards the moon in a horizontal position and

the Scientists in the MOX at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command

Network (ISTRAC), Bengaluru will deploy the commands for fine

braking.

The lander’s position will be changed to vertical and in that position, it

will hover over the moon, take pictures, survey the landing zone and

decide on the safe landing spot.

Meanwhile, ISRO released fresh set of images of the moon captured

by the Lander Position Detection Camera (LPDC) from an altitude of

about 70 km, on August 19, 2023.

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