India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft has completed its orbits around the earth and is now heading towards the moon after it was successfully injected into the translunar orbit.
Translunar orbit injection is the process whereby the moon-bound spacecraft has escaped from orbiting the earth and is now following a path that would take it to the vicinity of the Moon.
In other words, the spacecraft has begun its journey towards the Moon after leaving the Earth’s orbit following the TLI maneuver, which placed it on ‘lunar transfer trajectory’.
According to ISRO, as it arrives at the moon, the Lunar-Orbit Insertion (LOI) is planned for August 5, 2023.
The 2145.01-kg propulsion module will carry the lander and rover from the injection orbit to a 100-km lunar orbit.
Through a series of manoeuvres in the moon-centric phase, the space agency proposes to bring the spacecraft to the 100-km circular orbit and attempt a landing on August 23.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission to Moon was launched on July 14. The spacecraft comprises a propulsion module (weighing 2,148 kg), a lander (1,723.89 kg) and a rover (26 kg).
The main object of the mission is to safely land the lander on the lunar soil.
Source: https://www.isro.gov.in/
