Anand Mahindra on Chandrayaan-3 touchdown: ‘I’ll be watching, praying, and cheering on you…’

Business magnate Anand Mahindra on Sunday expressed his pleasure for India’s third moon mission, Chandrayaan-3, because it inches nearer to land on the lunar floor on Wednesday. The chairman of Mahindra Group stated he shall be watching, praying and cheering on the Chandrayaan-3 mission throughout its touchdown.

“August 23rd. 1745 IST. I’ll be watching. Praying. And cheering you on…” stated Mahindra on X (previously Twitter).

This will not be the primary time Mahindra has cheered for the nation’s moon mission. In his earlier tweets, he defended the lunar exploration mission in opposition to the contrasting views on the cash being spent on it. On August 3, retweeting a video by ISRO displaying the moon as captured by Chandrayaan-3, Mahindra wrote, “There are a million technological and commercial benefits that justify the effort and expense on space exploration. But these images accomplish much more than that: they inspire in us the magic of discovery and exploration. Thank you, @isro for igniting our dreams.”

Chandrayaan-3 set to create historical past on August 23

Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to exhibit end-to-end functionality in protected touchdown and roving on the lunar floor. It consists of Lander and Rover configuration.

Upon completion of the mission, India will develop into the primary nation on the planet to execute a gentle touchdown of its rover on the moon’s south pole.

Chandrayaan 3 mission: Detailed timeline of key milestones

Here is a complete timeline of serious developments within the Chandrayaan-3 mission as much as the current, together with upcoming milestones within the coming days.

• July 6: ISRO pronounces the launch date for Mission Chandrayaan-3 as July 14 from Sriharikota’s second pad.

• July 7: Successful completion of car electrical checks.

• July 11: Completion of a complete 24-hour ‘Launch Rehearsal’ simulating all the launch course of.

• July 14: LVM3 M4 automobile launches Chandrayaan-3 into its designated orbit.

• July 15: Successful execution of the primary orbit-raising manoeuvre, reaching a 41762 km x 173 km orbit.

• July 17: Second orbit-raising manoeuvre locations Chandrayaan-3 in a 41603 km x 226 km orbit.

• July 22: Fourth orbit-raising manoeuvre establishes the spacecraft in a 71351 km x 233 km orbit.

• July 25: Successful execution of one other orbit-raising manoeuvre.

• August 1: Chandrayaan-3 inserted into translunar orbit (288 km x 369328 km).

• August 5: Successful lunar orbit insertion (164 km x 18074 km).

• August 6: Lowering of lunar orbit to 170 km x 4,313 km.

• August 9: ISRO fastidiously adjusts the spacecraft’s path to realize a lunar orbit of 174 km x 1437 km.

• August 14: Chandrayaan-3 approaches the moon’s floor, reaching an orbit of 150 km x 177 km.

• August 16: The spacecraft performs its fifth and last Moon-bound manoeuvre, positioning itself in a near-circular Lunar orbit of 163 km x 153 km.

• August 17: Separation of the touchdown module, consisting of the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover, from its propulsion system.

• August 18: Successful completion of a ‘deboosting’ operation, decreasing the orbit to 113 km x 157 km.

• August 20: Planned last orbit adjustment is undertaken to realize an orbit of 134 km x 25 km, representing the farthest and nearest factors from the moon respectively.

• August 23: If all goes as deliberate, a lunar landing try is scheduled at 6:04 pm, masking the final 30 km distance.