New Delhi, July 14 ( P2P News Service): The Chandrayaan-3 mission is India’s third lunar mission and its second attempt to achieve a soft landing on the Moon. The mission was launched successfully on July 14, 2023, at 2:35 pm from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota near Chennai. The Launch Vehicle Mark 3 (LVM 3) GSLV rocket was used for this mission.
The rocket’s stage separations were executed as planned, and the spacecraft was placed in the precise orbit after approximately 19 minutes of flight. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) confirmed the successful launch of Chandrayaan-3 through a tweet.
The mission consists of a lander, a rover, and a propulsion module, with a total weight of about 3,900 kilograms. Initially, the spacecraft will orbit the Earth in an elliptical path before being placed into the lunar orbit. The lander, carrying the rover, will then separate from the propulsion module and attempt a soft landing on the lunar south pole. The lander and rover are designed to operate and collect scientific data for a period of 14 days (one lunar day). Meanwhile, the propulsion module will remain in lunar orbit to conduct its own experiments.
The Moon landing is scheduled to occur in the fourth week of August, approximately 42 to 45 days after the launch. If successful, Chandrayaan-3 will make India the fourth country to achieve a successful lunar landing, joining the elite club of the United States, Russia, and China.
The Chandrayaan programme was initially announced by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on August 15, 2003. The first mission, Chandrayaan-1, was launched on October 22, 2008, and confirmed the presence of water molecules on the Moon’s surface. The mission concluded on August 29, 2009.
Chandrayaan-2, the second mission, was launched on July 22, 2019, and entered lunar orbit on August 20, 2019. However, the Vikram Lander, carrying the Pragyan Rover, experienced a communication loss during its descent and crashed at an altitude of 2.1 km from the lunar surface.
Chandrayaan-3 is a continuation of the second lunar mission and includes eight different scientific payloads. This mission aims to further explore and gather valuable data from the Moon’s surface