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India's lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3, is making steady progress towards its goal of exploring the moon's surface. Launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on July 14 aboard an LVM3-M4 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, the spacecraft has successfully completed its fourth orbit-raising maneuver and is now in a 71351 km x 233 km orbit around Earth.

The next significant step for Chandrayaan-3 is the TransLunar Injection, scheduled for August 1 between 12 am and 1 am. This event will see the engines on the Propulsion Module roar to life, increasing the spacecraft's velocity and setting it on course for the moon.

The propulsion module will carry the lander, which houses the rover, from its current Earth orbit to a circular orbit around the moon at an altitude of 100 km.

The TLI is a propulsive maneuver which will be utilized to put that spacecraft on a trajectory that will set it on course to intercept the Moon. This process includes a significant burn, generally done by a chemical rocket engine, which surges the spacecraft's velocity.

The surged velocity transitions its orbit from a circular low Earth orbit to a highly eccentric one. The TLI burn is sized and timed to specifically target the Moon as it goes around the Earth.

The burn is timed so that the spacecraft comes near apogee (closest point) as the Moon comes close by. Finally, the spacecraft gets into the Moon's sphere of influence, further creating a hyperbolic lunar swingby.

Chandrayaan-3's mission objectives are threefold: to perform a safe soft landing near the lunar south pole, to deploy a rover and demonstrate its operation, and to perform in-situ scientific experiments. The spacecraft carries seven advanced scientific instruments designed to analyze the lunar soil and study the moon's environment.

These instruments will provide valuable data about the surface, subsurface, and the presence of water ice, potentially paving the way for future human missions.

Upon reaching the moon's orbit, the lander will detach itself from the propulsion module and attempt a soft landing on the lunar surface. If successful, India will join the elite group of nations - the United States, Russia, and China - that have achieved this feat. The landing is currently planned for August 23-24.

Once on the lunar surface, the rover will conduct a series of groundbreaking experiments using its payloads RAMBHA and ILSA during its 14-day mission. These experiments will help scientists better understand the moon's atmosphere and mineral composition.

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Chandrayaan-3 to exit Earth's orbit as it inches closer to moon - Business Today