After the successful start of Chandrayaan-3 on the GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-duty launch vehicle on Friday, director of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) S Somanath said the landing is an important step for further exploration.
“Chandrayaan-3 is a very important step… Landing this time is very important. If you don’t land, you can’t take samples, you can’t land humans, and you can’t set up lunar bases. So the landing is an important step for future exploration,” said ISRO boss S Somanath.
Chandrayaan-3 is ISRO’s follow-up attempt after the Chandrayaan-2 The mission faced challenges during its soft landing on the lunar surface in 2019 and was eventually deemed to have failed in its core mission objectives.
Chandrayaan-3 was successfully launched on the GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy lift vehicle from the Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh today at the scheduled launch time.
The journey from Earth for the moon for the spacecraft It is estimated to take about a month and landing is expected on August 23. After landing, it will operate for one lunar day, which is approximately 14 Earth days. A day on the moon equals 14 days on earth.
Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar exploration mission, will make India the fourth country after the US, China and Russia to land its spacecraft on the lunar surface and demonstrate the country’s capabilities for a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface.
Chandrayaan-3 will be inserted into lunar transfer orbit after orbit-raising maneuvers. After a distance of more than 3,000,000 km it will reach the moon in the coming weeks. Scientific instruments on board will study the surface of the moon and expand our knowledge.
Chandrayaan-3 is equipped with a lander, a rover and a propulsion module. It weighs around 3,900 kilograms.
The moon serves as a repository of Earth’s past, and a successful lunar mission by India will help improve life on Earth while allowing her to explore the rest of the solar system and beyond.
