Chandrayaan-3 is one step closer to moon, ‘Vikram’ lander to be deboosted at 4 PM today

The Vikram lander on Chandrayaan-3 is scheduled to perform a critical deboosting manoeuvre on Friday after successfully separating from the propulsion module the day before.
 
The deboosting manoeuvre is scheduled today at around 1600 IST.

Deboosting is the process of slowing down to get oneself in an orbit where the Perilune, the point closest to the Moon, is 30 km away and the Apolune, the farthest point, is 100 km away.

“The next Lander Module (Deorbit 1) manoeuvre is scheduled for tomorrow (August 18, 2023) around 1600 hrs IST,” ISRO posted on X (formerly Twitter) yesterday while announcing the successful separation of the lander from the propulsion module.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission's lander is named after Vikram Sarabhai (1919–1971), who is widely regarded as the father of the Indian space programme.

A week before its planned landing on the south pole of the moon on August 23, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft completed its penultimate lunar-bound orbit lowering manoeuvre on Wednesday.