The Launch Vehicle Mark III (LVM3) rocket has successfully placed Chandrayaan-3 into the intended orbit, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a mission update. The ISRO Chief S Somanath made this announced during the livestream of Chandrayaan-3. Chandrayaan-3 was the third mission of the LVM3 rocket in one year. Since Chandrayaan-3 has separated from LVM3, the propulsion module is carrying the lander module towards a lunar orbit whose size is 100 x 100 square kilometres.
ISRO also said that Chandrayaan-3 is on its way to the Moon, and the health of the spacecraft is normal.
After reaching this orbit, the propulsion module and the lander module will separate. The lander module consists of a lander and a rover. The lander has been designed in a way such that it can softly land on the Moon. The target location is the Moon's south pole. If this feat is accomplished, India will become the fourth nation in the world to successfully make a spacecraft perform a soft landing on the Moon, and the first country to make a spacecraft land on the Moon's south pole.
The lander will touch down on the lunar surface with a horizontal velocity of less than 0.5 metre per second, a vertical velocity of less than two metres per second, and a slope less than 120 degrees.
The lander module has a mass of 1,752 kilograms, and a mission life of one lunar day, which is equivalent to 14 Earth days. It has a power generation capacity of 738 Watts.
The rover has a mass of 26 kilograms, a mission life of one lunar day, and a power generation capacity of 50 Watts.
The mission life of the propulsion module is three to six months. It weighs 2,148 kilograms, and has a power generation capacity of 758 Watts.