Highlights: Pragyan rover rolls out of Chandrayaan-3 lander on Moon

Former ISRO scientist Mylswamy Annadurai said that by being the first to make a soft landing on the lunar polar region, the mission is set to make history. “So far so good and we expect as per plan 'A' today we must be able to land. Like anyone else, I am also eagerly waiting,” Mylswamy Annadurai said. 

We are eagerly waiting as well, sir! 

ISRO former chairman G Madhavan Nair told ANI that this is the last leg of the Chandrayaan 3 operation and everyone is anxiously looking forward to it. ISRO has conducted considerable studies and simulations and strengthened its designs so that the mission's success probability improves, he said. 

1. After the soft landing, the rover will descend from the lander's belly, onto the Moon's surface, using one of its side panels. 
2. The lander may have to face the challenge of lunar dust due to firing of onboard engines close to the moon's surface. 
3. The lander and rover will have a mission life of one lunar day (about 14 earth days) to study the surroundings there. 

Chandrayaan 3's Lander 'Vikram' and rover 'Pragyan' are scheduled to touch down on the lunar surface today. The lander has the capability to touch down at a specified lunar site and deploy the rover. The rover carries out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface.

There has been a lot of talk about the “15 minutes of terror” that make up the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s last moments. We explain those 15 minutes in just four phases: 

1. Rough braking phase: During this phase, the lander’s horizontal velocity should reduce from around 6,000 kilometres per hour to near zero. 
2. Attitude holding phase: At a height of around 7.43 kilometres above the lunar surface, the lander will tilt from a horizontal to a vertical position while covering a distance of 3.48 kilometres.
3. Fine breaking phase: This will last around 175 seconds during which the lander will travel about 28.52 kilometres horizontally to the landing site while reducing the altitude by around 1 kilometre. 
4. Terminal descent: This is the final stage when the fully vertical lander should drop down on the Moon’s surface.

ISRO chief S Somanath said that upgrades to the mission are “failure-based" as scientists looked at what went wrong with the Chandrayaan-2 and improved its successor. Here are some of the upgrades:

1. Strengthened legs: The legs of the new Vikram lander have been strengthened to ensure that it can land safely up to a speed of 10.8 kilometres per hour. 
2. Bigger fuel tank: The Chandrayaan-3 mission carries more fuel.
3. More solar panels: The new Vikram lander has solar panels on all four of its faces instead of just two.
4. Additional instruments and improved software: The Chandrayaan-3 mission has additional instruments and improvements to its software to aid the soft-landing effort. 

ISRO said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that it is ready to initiate Chandrayaan'-3's Automatic Landing Sequence (ALS) when the lander module reaches the designated location at 5.44 PM IST today.

PM Modi said when the moon mission launched that ISRO was writing "a new chapter in India's space odyssey" and elevating “the dreams and ambitions of every Indian.”

We could not agree more!

Russia's first moon mission in 47 years failed over the weekend when its Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the moon. A private Japanese space startup, ispace, failed an attempted lunar landing in April this year. 

India's previous attempt to land on the lunar south pole failed in 2019. Then, Chandrayaan-2 successfully deployed an orbiter but its lander and rover were destroyed in a crash. 

This happened just near the location where the Chandrayaan-3 will attempt a touchdown.

Fingers crossed and prayers, please! 

NASA administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement that the US space agency is "looking forward" to what would be learned from the Indian mission to the Moon. 

Three cheers for Chandrayaan 3! 

The Chandrayaan-3 lander stands about 2 meters tall and has a mass of just over 1,700 kg (3,747.86 lb). It is roughly on par with an SUV and is designed to deploy a smaller 26-kg lunar rover.

If it lands successfully, the Chandrayaan-3 is expected to remain functional for two weeks. It will be running a series of experiments including a spectrometer analysis of the mineral composition of the lunar surface.

After the moon mission, ISRO has a number of projects lined up- a mission to study the Sun Aditya-L1, and a human space flight programme, Gaganyaan. 

Aditya-L1 is getting ready for the launch, most likely in the first week of September.

1. The moon lander was launched on July 14. 
2. It was perched on a LVM 3 heavy-lift launch vehicle and placed in the lunar orbit on August 5. 
3. The lander Vikram is named after Vikram Sarabhai, regarded as the father of the Indian space programme.

ISRO said the mission is on schedule and systems are undergoing regular checks. "Smooth sailing is continuing. The Mission Operations Complex (at ISRO) is buzzed with energy and excitement!" ISRO posted on X, formerly Twitter. 

India will be the fourth country to land a rover on moon after Russia, United States and China.

The mission is crucial for future moon missions as well as the presence of water holds hope. It could be used as a source of drinking water, to cool equipment and broken down to produce oxygen. We could also figure out about the origins of oceans. 

So, yes! The world is watching.

The location for the landing has been chosen with care. The area is expected hold the key on lunar water ice which could be a hugely valuable resource. Water was detected on the moon's surface by a NASA instrument aboard the ISRO's Chandrayaan-1 probe in 2009.

At 6.04 pm, the Vikram lander, carrying the rover Pragyaan, will attempt a soft landing on the moon's South Pole. And it is super exciting. In 2019, the Chandrayaan-2 mission had failed to land safely in the same area. 

Well, ofcourse Hindustan Times is at your service to bring you every update on the moon landing but you can also catch the live telecast of the event which will begin at 5.20 pm on the ISRO website, YouTube channel and DD National. 

Not only space enthusiasts but schools across the country are open for the event as India is anticipating the historic moment.

The landing is due at 6.04 pm and will be telecast live across the country. PM Modi, who is attending the BRICS summit in South Africa, will join in online for the landing. 

And ofcourse we are here for all the live updates. Stay tuned!

*There are reports in newspapers that the scientists who made this (Chandrayaan-3) happen, have not received a salary in 17 months. Prime Minister should take note of this: Digvijaya Singh (Read)

*The government has already fact-checked this as ‘fake news.’ 

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri to hold special ‘ardas’ at 2pm at Delhi's at Gurdwara Sri Bangla Sahib to pray for the mission's success.