BY - Srishti Verma
ISRO's ambitious third Moon mission Chandrayaan-3's Lander Module (LM) is all set to land on the lunar surface
Live telecast of the landing operations at MOX/ISTRAC begins at 5.20 pm, ahead of the scheduled touch-down of the lander
Lander is carrying a rover in its belly. The landing near the south polar region is anticipated to take place around 6.04 pm
ISRO Chairman S Somanath said that the overall process of landing may take around 30 minutes
India will be the first to land close to the lunar south pole. Vikram this time has sturdier legs that can withstand landing velocities up to 10.8kmph.
After landing, Vikram will extend a ramp for Pragyan to roll out and explore the surface and start studies
Vikram and Pragyan are designed to function for one lunar day (14 Earth days)
Among landing challenges, primary would be lunar dust.
Hard, fine lunar dust has negative charge which makes it stick to surfaces and thereby interfere with deployment mechanisms including the solar panel.