Chandrayaan-3: ISRO to launch third Moon exploration mission today
If the landing is successful, India will become the fourth country, after the United States, Russia, and China, to achieve this remarkable feat
The Indian Space Research Organisation or ISRO will launch its third mission to the Moon Chandrayaan-3 at 2.35pm on Friday from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
If the landing is successful, India will become the fourth country, after the United States, Russia, and China, to achieve this remarkable feat.
The position of a successful soft landing has remained unoccupied since the missions from Israel and India crash-landed in 2019, and the spacecraft carrying a lander-rover from Japan and a rover from the UAE failed in 2022.
Chandrayaan 3 Launch Updates: Here’s all you need to know about the mission:
The journey from Earth to the Moon for the to-be-launched spacecraft is estimated to take around a month and the landing is expected on August 23.
Upon landing, it will operate for one lunar day, which is approximately 14 Earth days. One day on Moon is equal to 14 days on Earth. The scientists have aspirations to conduct an analysis of the lunar soil, explore the moon's surface with a rover, and record moon quakes. Read | All you need to know about India's Chandrayaan-3 and its benefits for the US
The spacecraft will be launched on a GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle. This powerful three-stage medium-lift launch vehicle is considered the most robust in ISRO's fleet.
Standing at a height of 43.5 meters and with a diameter of 4 meters, the LVM-3 weighs an impressive 640 tonnes at liftoff. Its strength allows it to transport payloads of up to 8,000 kilograms to a low-Earth orbit. For more distant destinations, such as the geostationary transfer orbit, it can carry approximately 4,000 kilograms of payload.
According to ISRO, the recently developed mission incorporates robust measures to ensure a successful landing, even in the event of component failures. Various scenarios such as sensor malfunction, engine breakdown, algorithmic glitches, and calculation errors were thoroughly analyzed, and appropriate countermeasures were devised.
During Chandrayaan-2 mission, ISRO lost contact with the lander when it was just a notch away from the moon’s surface.
