India’s Chandrayaan-3 in faceoff with Russia’s Luna-25 for unchartered lunar south pole
NASA and other space agencies in recent years have detected traces of frozen water in the craters. As for Chandrayaan-3, the Indian space agency said the Moon mission's Lander Module has successfully undergone a deboosting (slowing down) operation taking it closer to the Moon, and that its health is normal.
The Lander Module (LM) health is normal. LM successfully underwent a deboosting operation that reduced its orbit to 113 km x 157 km.
The second deboosting operation is scheduled for August 20, 2023, around 0200 Hrs. IST," tweeted ISRO.
Deboosting is the process of slowing down to position itself in an orbit where the orbit's closest point to the Moon (Perilune) is 30 km and the farthest point (the Apolune) is 100 km. Meanwhile, the Russian spacecraft on the Moon mission has produced its first results and they are being analysed.
Luna-25 has also sent pictures of the Moon's Zeeman crater -- the third deepest in the moon's southern hemisphere. (With agency inputs)
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