- Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. It consists of Lander and Rover configuration. It will be launched by GSLV MkIII from SDSC, Sriharikota, in June.
- The propulsion module will carry the lander and rover configuration till 100km lunar orbit.
- The total cost of the mission is Rs. 650 crores.
Bengaluru, February 26. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to launch its third mission to the Moon in June. S Somnath, Chairman of the Indian space agency (ISRO) said that Chandrayaan-3 will lift-off in June with a more robust lunar rover on-board which is crucial for future inter-planetary explorations.
Chandrayaan-3 has arrived. The rocket along with the satellites is well placed for the ignition button to be pressed. The only thing that lay void is the slot for the launch. The GSLV MK-III rocket will be launched in June of this year. If successful, India joins the rank with other aeronautical superpowers including America, Russia, and China to land its vehicle on the moon.
The space agency chief said that while the mission will rely on the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, which is already working around the Moon, the Chandrayaan-3 rover is not a replica of its predecessor. “C-3 is ready now. The engineering is significantly different. We have made it more robust so that it does not have problems like last time,” Somnath said.
“There are many changes. The impact legs are stronger. It will have better instrumentation. In case something fails, something else will take over,” he added. The rover is being developed to have different methods to calculate the height to be travelled, identify hazard-free locations, and will have better software.
The Chandrayaan-2 is still a pain for many who have witnessed the live tracking of the graph that stopped a movement when it was just 0.5 km from completion. Hearts stopped a beat and more tears trickled down seeing an uncontrollable former ISRO chief K Sivan being patted on the back in a parental gesture by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The mission is aimed at better understanding the Moon’s composition. ISRO has laid out three main objectives for the mission, which include demonstrating a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface, demonstrating the rover’s roving capabilities on the moon, and performing in-situ scientific observations.
The lander test of the rocket was successfully completed during the time between January 31 to February 2.
Chandrayaan-3 has three modules. The Propeller, Lander, and Rover module. The lander-rover compatibility and establishing radio frequency communication are prime for success.
