Today when at 2.35 pm the LMV3 rocket blasts off into space, Chandrayaan-3 will take it with hopes and dreams of millions. But we will have to hold on to our horses for another 40 days when the Chandrayaan-3 Lander 'Vikram' is expected to land on the moon.

Watch it live here

Update at 2.20 pm

The moon lander Vikram will be perched on a GSLV Mark 3 heavy, the 'Bahubali rocket' lift launch vehicle.

Update at 2.15 pm

ISRO prepares for third space mission to the moon; to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.

India's tryst with space prominence

The Chandrayaan-3 mission sets off with the ambition to soft land on the moon's surface and maneuver a robotic rover there. The moon landing also aims to explore and study elements present on the moon.

Counting down India's hopes in Chandrayaan-3

As regards the changes made in the lander this time as compared to the one that crash landed on the moon during the Chandrayaan-2 mission, a senior ISRO official stated that the lander has four motors instead of five. The space agency has also made some changes to the software. Interestingly, ISRO is silent on naming the lander and rover this time around. During the Chandrayaan-2 mission, the lander was named 'Vikram' and the rover was named 'Pragyan'.

Chandrayaan-3's trajectory: from Earth to Moon and beyond

• Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft will take off from earth at 2.35 pm The LVM-3 rocket will carry the spacecraft into satellite transit orbit.

• After this process five Earth fires will occur so that the Lander Module (LM) and Propulsion Module (PM) can escape from the earth's gravitational pull. Then it will exit the orbit of the earth and will lead towards entering the orbit of the moon.

• After this phase, both LM and PM will be in transit orbit period between Earth and Moon.

• This phase will be followed by four moon burns to enter the lunar orbit.

• On Aug 17, both LM and PM will separate and the Vikram ladder will move towards the lunar surface.

• On Aug 23, the lander module will move into a 100 by 30 km orbit and accelerate towards the landing.

• It will descend from a height of 30 km to 7.4 km at a speed of 1.98 km per hour in 690 seconds.

• The Vikram lander will move at a distance of 7.4 km to the moon and will stabilize itself, it will then begin its descent to 6.8 km.

• The lander will descend to 800m from 6.8 km in 170 s and will stay in its position for 12 s, rotating continuously.

• After that, it will move downward to 150 m in 75 s. The lander will keep rotating at this altitude for 22s.

• From 150 m height, the lander will look for one of the two landing sites that are pre-decided for it to land.

• If there are no further warnings, the lander will descend to the site without stopping from 150 m.

(Source: IANS)

Edited for style

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