Chandrayaan-3 Trajectory Design: Injection to Successful Landing

Abstract

On August 23, 2023, India became the first country to successfully soft-land near the south pole of the moon. The end-to-end trajectory design from Earth-orbit injection to the moon landing was crucial to the overall success of the mission. This paper describes the trajectory design phase, which comprised the target lunar orbit design, the maneuver strategy implemented to acquire the specified orbit, and finally the multiphase lunar landing trajectory design carried out for the powered descent phase of the lander module. The objective of the trajectory design was not only to soft-land on the moon but also to do it at a predefined site when it was illuminated. Based on this design, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft was launched on July 14, 2023; successfully rendezvoused with the moon on August 5, 2023, as planned; and finally soft-landed near the lunar south pole.