Returning Home: Chandrayaan-3 Propulsion Module Moved From Moon To Earth Orbit (image-twitter/isro)

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced Chandyaan-3″s successful detour for another unique experiment on Tuesday. The Propulsion Module (PM) of Chandrayaan-3 was moved from moon’s orbit to earth’s orbit.

ISRO shared the experiment details on X. “In another unique experiment, like the hop experiment on the Vikram Lander, the Propulsion Module (PM) of Chandrayaan-3 was moved from an orbit around Moon to an orbit around Earth,” ISRO said in the statement released.

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:

Ch-3″s Propulsion Module (PM) takes a successful detour!

In another unique experiment, the PM is brought from Lunar orbit to Earth’s orbit.

An orbit-raising maneuver and a Trans-Earth injection maneuver placed PM in an Earth-bound orbit.… pic.twitter.com/qGNBhXrwff

— ISRO (@isro) December 5, 2023

The primary objective of the Chandrayaan-3 mission which was launched on July 14, 2023 was to demonstrate the soft landing near to lunar south polar region and to perform experiments with the help of Vikram and Pragyaan rovers. With the Vikram lander making a historic touchdown on Moon on August 23, the mission’s objectives fulfilled. With the available fuel in the Propulsion Module, ISRO has decided to extend the PM’s operational life by using it for deriving additional information for future lunar missions and to demonstrate a sample return.

The PM’s trajectory was adjusted to transition from lunar to Earth orbit, avoiding potential collision with the Moon or Earth’s geostationary belt. The first manoeuvre was performed on October 29,2023. Currently, the propulsion module is orbiting Earth and as per the current orbit prediction, there are no threats of close approach from any operational earth orbiting satellites were reported.

As per the plan, SHAPE payload is being operated whenever Earth is in its field of view. A special operation was carried out on October 28, 2023 during a solar eclipse and the operations will continue further. The SHAPE payload is an experimental payload onboard Chandrayaan-3 for the study of spectro-polarimetric signatures of Earth in the near infrared wavelength range.

This successful repositioning of the PM will be a valuable contribution to future lunar missions.