Its aim is to reach the South Pole of the Moon
Akankshya Mukherjee, Mumbai Uncensored, 4th February 2022 :
India is coming up with the mission to launch Chandrayaan-3 to land on the Moon has a launch date for this year. According to the Department of Space, the Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch Chandrayaan-3 in August 2022. After 2 years, Chandrayaan-2 launched and suffered a fatal fate on the surface of the Moon.
The projected timeline was revealed by the Department of Space in the Lok Sabha with growing interest in a mission to the Moon. In classic ISRO fashion, the agency is always a step ahead and very hard-working. It turns out that the required tests to facilitate a successful launch has been completed and slated for the August 2022 launch to land on the Moon’s south pole.
Referring to the delay faced by ISRO’s Moon mission, India’s Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to the delays, causing a “reprioritisation of projects” given the reforms in the space sector and the “newly introduced demand-driven models”. The first Chandrayaan mission was launched in 2008 and made startling discoveries about the Moon, including evidence of water on the lunar surface.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission was slated to launch in 2021 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lunar spacecraft takes cues from the first Chandrayaan mission launched in October 2008 that made many major discoveries, including finding evidence of water on the moon.
India’s second lunar programme was not as successful as its first one after the Chandrayaan-2 crash-landed on the far side of the Moon. After the crash, its lander and the rover crashed, but the orbiter is still hovering above the lunar surface. ISRO plans to use a second mission orbit with Chandrayaan-3.
The last major satellite launches by the ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) were the Earth Observation Satellite-3 in August last and the Amazonia satellite in February. The ISRO has planned 19 missions until December consisting of eight launch vehicle missions, seven spacecraft missions and four technology demonstrator missions.
The ISRO has been allotted ₹13,700 crores for this financial year, nearly ₹1,000 crores more than it spent last year. Despite the several missions planned this year, the budgeted outlay this year is less than the ₹13,949 crores allotted last year.
