ISRO’s Remarkable Success: Chandrayaan-3 Propulsion Module Returns to Earth’s Orbit, Achieving Milestone in Lunar Mission.

ISRO’s Remarkable Success: Discover the latest achievement by ISRO as Chandrayaan-3’s Propulsion Module completes its mission, returning from the lunar orbit to Earth’s orbit.

Explore the mission details, objectives, and the unique use of the SHAPE payload for future lunar endeavors

Chandrayaan-3’s Propulsion Module (PM) has returned to Earth’s orbit. After this successful mission, ISRO has achieved another major achievement.

ISRO posted on social media In another unique experiment, PM was brought from lunar orbit to Earth’s orbit.

Let us tell you that the spacecraft was launched on July 14, 2023, on an LVM3-M4 vehicle from SDSC, SHAR.

On August 23, the Vikram lander made its historic landing on the Moon which was followed by the deployment of the Pragyan rover.

The lander and rover were operated continuously for 1 lunar day (14 Earth days). The mission objectives of Chandrayaan-3 have been completely accomplished.

ISRO’s Remarkable Success: What was the objective of the Chandrayaan-3 mission?

The primary objective of the Chandrayaan-3 mission was to demonstrate a soft landing near the south-polar region of the Moon using Vikram and Pragyan.

At the same time, the main objective of the Propulsion Module was to transport the lander module from the Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) to the final lunar polar circular orbit and to separate the lander.

After separation, the Spectro-Polarimetry of the Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload was also conducted in the PM.

Availability of more than 100 kg of fuel.

The initial plan was to operate this payload for approximately three months during the PM’s mission life.

Precise orbital injection by LVM3 resulted in the availability of more than 100 kg of fuel in the PM after more than a month of operation in lunar orbit.

It was decided to use the available fuel in the PM to obtain additional information for future lunar missions and to demonstrate mission operations strategies for a sample return mission.

To continue carrying the SHAPE payload, it was decided to reinsert the PM into a suitable Earth orbit.

What will be the benefit of this?

The mission plan was designed keeping in mind collision avoidance such as preventing the PM from crashing into the lunar surface or entering the Earth’s GEO belt in orbits at 36000 km and below.

According to the plan, the SHAPE payload is operated whenever Earth is in its field of view.

Additionally, a special operation of the SHAPE payload was conducted during the solar eclipse on October 28, 2023. Shape payload operations will continue further.