- The Chandrayaan-3 mission is on track to launch to the Moon on July 13.
- The 3900-kilogram spacecraft was first encapsulated in the payload fairing
- It was then moved to be integrated aboard the rocket
- The Chandrayaan-3 mission is slated to launch on July 13
Bengaluru, July 6. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has integrated the payload fairing containing the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft with the Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk-III).
The mating of the payload fairing with India’s heaviest rocket was done at the SatishDhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission is slated for launch on July 13 to the Moon, as it looks to explore the geology of the only natural satellite of Earth.
The 3900-kilogram spacecraft was first encapsulated in the payload fairing of the rocket at the UR Rao Satellite Centre, in Bengaluru, before being moved to be integrated aboard the rocket that will push it outside Earth’s orbit setting it on a course to the Moon nearly 3,84,000 kilometers away from the Earth.
ISRO chief S Somnath had announced recently that the Space Agency will be able to do a soft landing on the Moon, July 13 is the first possible launch day and it could go up to 19th ,” he had said.
Earlier, Somanath had informed that the period between July 12 to July 19 is optimal for launch when the orbital dynamics will ensure minimal fuel and higher efficiency in the journey to the Moon.
The payload fairing on top of the rocket contains the lander, rover integrated with the Propulsion Module that will carry it to an altitude 100 kilometers above the Moon, before separating.
The Indian space agency has said that the lander would have the capability to soft land at a specified lunar site and deploy the rover which will go on to perform in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility.
This ambitious mission follows the Chandrayaan-2 mission, which crash-landed on the Moon’s surface four years ago in 2019.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission will explore the Southern Polar Region of the Moon and will attempt to soft land on the lunar surface, making India only the fourth country in the world, after United States of America, Russia and China, to reach this milestone.
