The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday afternoon successfully separated the propulsion module of Chandrayaan-3 from its lander module, commencing the last leg of its journey to the moon.

“Chandrayaan-3 Mission: ‘Thanks for the ride, mate!’ said the Lander Module (LM). LM is successfully separated from the Propulsion Module (PM) LM is set to descend to a slightly lower orbit upon a deboosting planned for tomorrow around 1600 Hrs., IST,” the ISRO posted on X, earlier known as Twitter.

“Meanwhile, the Propulsion Module continues its journey in the current orbit for months/years. The SHAPE payload onboard it would perform spectroscopic study of the Earth’s atmosphere and measure the variations in polarization from the clouds on Earth to accumulate signatures of Exoplanets that would qualify for our habitability!” it added.

The space agency will now be conducting a de-boosting manoeuvre before the spacecraft attempts to land on the surface of the moon on August 23.