The much-anticipated Chandrayaan-3 mission, spearheaded by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), is set to commence from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Scheduled for a momentous launch at 2.35 PM IST on Friday, July 14, this mission follows the notable achievements of its predecessor, Chandrayaan-2, with a renewed focus on showcasing enhanced capabilities.
According to ISRO, Chandrayaan 3 is the follow-on mission to Chandrayaan 2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability for safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.
ISRO states three objectives of India’s leap to the moon:
- To demonstrate Safe and Soft Landing on the lunar surface
- To demonstrate Rover roving on the moon
- To conduct in-situ scientific experiments.
Nambi Narayanan, a former ISRO scientist, told PTI that this space programme will make India the fourth nation to accomplish this feat. He went on to say that this would promote the country’s space scientific development. This, according to Narayanan, will encourage more startups to penetrate India.
The anticipated mission to moon updates are being tweeted by ISRO and as of writing this at 9:35 am IST:
LVM3 M4/Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
— ISRO (@isro) July 14, 2023
The countdown is progressing at SDSC-SHAR, Sriharikota.
Propellant filling in the L110 stage is completed.
Propellant filling in the C25 stage is commencing.
During the India Space Congress held on 10-12 July in Delhi, S.Somnath ISRO chairman commented on Chandrayaan 2 and its shortcomings during the previous moon mission, as reported by TOI.
Chandrayaan 2 was also a highly ambitious lunar mission undertaken by ISRO. The mission to moon in 2019 was partly successful and failed because the lander from this spacecraft crashed before its intended landing on moon’s surface.
Chandrayaan 3 is widely anticipated for this reason, because this time the spacecraft is engineered keeping the previous spacecraft’s shortcomings in mind.
The Chandrayaan 3 mission highlights the nation’s commitment to towards India’s space program. With this ISRO will be another feather in the cap.
To witness this momentous event live, enthusiasts can tune into the YouTube channel and official website for further details.
