The ISRO has said that India's third lunar exploration mission, Chandrayaan-3, will touch down on the surface of the Moon around 6.04 pm on Wednesday. The landing module consists of a lander Vikram and a rover Pragyaan.
According to the latest update from the space agency, the Chandrayaan-3 mission's lander module has established communication with the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter. It also released images of the lunar far side area captured by the Lander Hazard Detection and Avoidance Camera.
"Welcome, buddy!' Ch-2 orbiter formally welcomed Ch-3 LM. Two-way communication between the two is established. MOX has now more routes to reach the LM," ISRO said in a post on 'X'.
However, the touchdown plans could change, ANI quoted a senior ISRO scientist.
According to Nilesh M Desai, director, Space Applications Centre-ISRO, Ahmedabad, the landing may be postponed to August 27 if conditions are unfavourable. "On August 23, two hours before Chandrayaan-3 lands on the Moon, we will take a decision on whether or not it will be appropriate to land it at that time based on the health of the lander module and the conditions on the Moon. In case, if any factor appears to be not favourable, then we will land the module on the Moon on August 27. No problem should occur and we will be able to land the module on August 23," Nilesh told ANI.
Chandrayaan-2, India's previous attempt to land on the lunar south pole failed in 2019, had witnessed an unsuccessful touchdown after its lander and rover were destroyed in a crash. Rough terrain is one of the complications of a south pole landing.
Meanwhile, ISRO chairman S Somanath met Union Minister for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh on Monday in Delhi and appraised him about the readiness of the mission. He informed the minister that all systems were working perfectly and no contingencies are expected on Wednesday.
In the next two days, the health of Chandrayaan-3 will be continuously monitored, he said, adding the final sequence of landing will be loaded two days ahead and tested out. The mission life of the lander and rover is one lunar day or 14 earth days.