Chandrayaan-3: ISRO successfully completes second orbit-raising manoeuvre

The Indian Space Research Organisation has successfully performed the second orbit-raising manoeuvre (Earth-bound apogee firing) of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft.

"The spacecraft is now in 41603 km X 226 km orbit," the national space agency headquartered in Bengaluru said on Monday.

The next firing is planned for Tuesday between 2 pm and 3 pm, it said. The Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon was launched on July 14 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, aimed at making a soft landing on the unexplored south pole of the Moon that would help India achieve a rare feat.


Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface, said ISRO. It consists of Lander and Rover configurations.

Three main mission objectives of the Chandrayaan-3 are to demonstrate a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface, demonstrate rover roving on the moon, and conduct in-situ scientific experiments.

(with agency inputs)