Thrilling! Polish telescope spots Chandrayaan-3 in deep space

Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft recently performed its fifth and final Earth-bound orbit-raising maneuver on July 25, positioning itself for lunar insertion. Some private astronomers spotted the spacecraft using the Polish ROTUZ telescope. In the video, the spacecraft was seen crushing through space.

 

 

 

“We're thrilled to see #Chandrayan3 (@isro) observed by @astro_agn at ROTUZ (Panoptes-4) telescope (J. Gil Institute of Astronomy University of Zielona Góra), operated by@sybilla_tech. Trajectory via@coastal8049 with STRF by @cgbassa and members of the @SatNOGS. Godspeed!" the company tweeted.

 

 

 

Chandrayaan-3 will now transfer to an Earth-to-Moon trajectory, with the Moon's gravity eventually pulling it into lunar orbit.

 

“By the first week of August, Chandrayaan-3 would have completed 5-6 circles of the Moon and entered the innermost circle. Then it will take another 10 days to locate the exact spot where it has to land in the south pole area of the Moon," Space Minister Jitendra Singh said.

 

Meanwhile, the fourth orbit-raising manoeuvre (Earth-bound perigee firing) of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft was successfully conducted on last Thursday.

 

On July 14, the Chandrayaan-3 spaceship lifted off from the launchpad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. The moon mission is expected to reach the Moon’s South Pole for a soft landing with a lander and rover on the lunar surface (where water is expected) by August 23-24.

 

By doing so, India would join the group of elite nations (United States, Russia, and China) that had achieved the feat.

The aim of this mission is to make a soft landing on the unexplored south-pole of the Moon that would help India achieve a rare feet. Chandrayaan-3 has a mission life of one lunar day, or 14 Earth days. Only three countries -- the United States, China and Russia -- have managed to land on the lunar surface so far.