Vikram in final orbit for Moon landing; Russian craft crashes – Times of India

BENGALURU: Chandrayaan-3 entered the last lap of its historic journey to Moon early Sunday with lander Vikram completing its second and final “deboost” manoeuvre, slowing down the spacecraft and taking position in a pre-landing orbit of 25x134km for a controlled touchdown at 6.04pm on August 23. “The module will now undergo internal checks and await sunrise at the landing site. Powered descent is expected to commence on August 23 at 5.45pm,” Isro said.
With the mission so far going off without a hitch, Isro aims to have Vikram descend with precision on a pre-decided site near the lunar south pole, four years after success eluded its predecessor. Vikram and Pragyan, the rover, are designed to have a life of one lunar day powered by solar energy, but a life extension isn’t ruled out.

Cams to capture Pragyan’s slide down to lunar surface
If all goes well with Chandrayaan-3’s crucial landing manoeuvre on Wednesday, rover Pragyan will slide down from Vikram – a move that will be captured by cameras on the lander – and begin to move on the lunar surface using its wheels. Pragyan is also equipped with cameras for obstacle avoidance.
“Once Sun sets, there will be no power for the lander and rover to function, and all the equipment will stop working. However, our tests show that there are possibilities of the battery getting recharged upon the next Sunrise. If that happens, we could get another 14 days, or maybe even more,” Isro chairman S Somanath said.

Pragyan’s movement will be restricted to within the lander’s observational area as Isro wants cameras on the lander to be able to see the rover at all times.
As of now, the movement is calibrated for 14 days, and Isro will map the distance it covers. In case the lifespan of the lander and rover gets extended, Pragyan will travel more. Chandrayaan-3 and Luna-25, which ended in failure on Sunday, were the first among at least 10 other lunar missions planned between now and 2025, with the US, Israel, China and Japan – including a joint mission with India – all eyeing the Moon.
The US will launch its CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services), Trailblazer, VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) and Artemis-II, China has multiple missions under the China’s Lunar Exploration Programme, Israel is planning Beresheet-2 and Japan will launch Hakuto-II & III and SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) independently, and Lupex (Lunar Polar Exploration) jointly with India.
These missions are part of a renewed interest globally to return to Moon and efforts for a more sustained presence. Apart from these, the lunar orbit is already crowded, albeit low compared to Earth orbits, posing a challenge of collisions for all lunar missions. Explaining why Vikram’s landing is planned on the day Sun rises on Moon, Isro chairman Somanath had said earlier: “We want the landing to happen when Sun rises on Moon so we get 14-15 (Earth) days to work. If landing cannot happen on the first two days (Sun rise and the next day), we will wait for another month and land in September.”

Watch Russia’s first mission to moon in 47 years fails as Luna-25 crashes into Lunar surface