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Mission record

Chandrayaan-3

Also known as Chandrayaan3

Indian Space Research Organization · Launched

Explore trajectory

Active · Success

India's successful south polar region lunar landing deployed Vikram and Pragyan, while its propulsion module continues Earth observations from an evolving high Earth orbit.

Destinations
Launch vehicle
LVM 3
Launch site
Sriharikota, India
Countries
India
Mission types
Lander, Rover, Orbiter

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Chandrayaan-3 launched on an LVM3 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre

  2. Milestone

    LBN-1 lunar-orbit insertion burn began

    JPL Table 10 reports the burn start at 13:42:28 UTC and executed ΔV magnitude 272.54 m/s. This scalar does not specify the full burn vector.

    Moon

  3. Milestone

    LBN-2 executed; JPL reports 192.07 m/s

    The JPL navigation paper reports a 17:37:08 UTC burn start and executed ΔV magnitude 192.07 m/s (planned 191.73 m/s). This scalar does not provide the full burn vector.

    Moon

  4. Milestone

    LBN-3 executed; JPL reports 186.54 m/s

    The JPL navigation paper reports an 08:09:02 UTC burn start and executed ΔV magnitude 186.54 m/s (planned 186.83 m/s). This scalar does not provide the full burn vector.

    Moon

  5. Milestone

    LBN-4 executed; JPL reports 193.63 m/s

    The JPL navigation paper reports a 06:26:44 UTC burn start and executed ΔV magnitude 193.63 m/s (planned 193.73 m/s). This scalar does not provide the full burn vector.

    Moon

  6. Milestone

    LBN-5 executed; JPL reports 2.12 m/s

    The JPL navigation paper reports a 03:14:01 UTC burn start and executed ΔV magnitude 2.12 m/s (planned 2.51 m/s). The burn was cut off at its time limit. This scalar does not provide the full burn vector.

    Moon

  7. Milestone

    LBN-5A makeup burn executed; JPL reports 0.57 m/s

    The JPL navigation paper reports a 15:29:14 UTC burn start and executed ΔV magnitude 0.57 m/s (planned 0.62 m/s). ISRO performed this makeup burn after the LBN-5 underburn. This scalar does not provide the full burn vector.

    Moon

  8. Milestone

    Vikram separated from the propulsion module in lunar orbit

    JPL Table 10 reports separation at 07:45:00 UTC. Its spring mechanism imparted ΔV magnitudes of 0.20 m/s to the lander and 0.72 m/s to the propulsion module; vector directions are not supplied here. Pragyan remained carried by Vikram.

    Moon

  9. Milestone

    Deorbit-1 executed; JPL reports 9.90 m/s

    The JPL navigation paper reports a 10:30:18 UTC burn start and executed ΔV magnitude 9.90 m/s (planned 9.68 m/s). This scalar does not provide the full burn vector.

    Moon

  10. Milestone

    Deorbit-2 executed; JPL reports 24.60 m/s

    The JPL navigation paper reports a 20:15:42 UTC burn start and executed ΔV magnitude 24.60 m/s (planned 24.55 m/s). This scalar does not provide the full burn vector.

    Moon

  11. Milestone

    Vikram began its powered descent towards the surface

    Moon

  12. Landing

    Vikram landed in the south polar region of the Moon (published times differ by one minute)

    The NASA NSSDCA master catalog reports 12:33 UT, while the archived JPL Horizons target -158 header reports 12:32 UTC. Both are minute-level source reports; the precise touchdown second remains unresolved. The timestamp retains the NSSDCA value.

    Moon

  13. Deployment

    The rover was deployed onto the lunar surface

    Moon

  14. Mission end

    The lander and rover entered sleep mode at the end of the lunar day and did not wake

    Surface operations ended for Vikram and Pragyan. This event does not end the propulsion module’s later SHAPE science operations.

    Moon

  15. Departure

    The propulsion module performed trans-Earth injection

    Moon

  16. Milestone

    The propulsion module left the Moon’s sphere of influence on its return to Earth orbit

    ISRO reports orbit raising on October 9, trans-Earth injection on October 13, and four lunar flybys before the November 10 departure. November 10 is not the injection-burn date.

    Earth

  17. Flyby

    The propulsion module made the first of two further lunar flybys

    Moon

  18. Flyby

    A second lunar flyby changed the propulsion module’s high Earth orbit

    The August 2026 instrument paper reports an approximately 409,000 × 727,000 km high Earth orbit after the two flybys. Those size summaries do not independently define a complete state history.

    Moon

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • Propulsion module · Spacecraft

    Destinations: Moon

    • Vikram · Lander

      Destinations: Moon

      • Pragyan · Rover

        Destinations: Moon

Trajectory record

Time-dependent navigation trajectory

Source states place the model at the selected time. Reconstructed flight, estimates, predictions and historical mission plans are identified by interval; gaps remain visible.

J2000 · Sun-centered display · positions interpolated between source states

Coverage: July 14, 2023 to November 10, 2023

Source records and sampling assumptions are retained with the repository data. Model attitude and surface appearance are illustrative.

  • Chandrayaan-3 propulsion module: Reconstructed · July 14, 2023 to November 10, 2023
  • Vikram (Chandrayaan-3): Reconstructed · August 17, 2023 to August 23, 2023

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through September 13, 2026