Chandrayaan 3 Launch Date: The much-awaited Chandrayaan 3 mission is scheduled for launch in August 2022, informed Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology, Dr. Jitendra Singh, in a written to the Lok Sabha on February 2, 2022.
The Union Minister said that the realization of the Chandrayaan 3 mission is in progress, based on the learnings from Chandrayaan-2 and suggestions made by the national level experts. Many related hardware and their special tests have been completed successfully and the launch is scheduled for August 2022.
A successful soft landing on the Moon will make India the fourth country to do so and first to do so near the lunar South Pole. India's Chandrayaan 2 mission had previously crashed at what is now called the Jawahar point on the moon.
Read more: Space is hard, we commend ISRO’s attempt to land Chandrayaan 2 mission: NASA
Chandrayaan 3 Mission
The Chandrayaan 3 mission is the third planned lunar exploration mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It follows ISRO's Chandrayaan 2 mission, which though successfully deployed its orbiter around the Moon but failed to soft-land its lander and deploys its rover after a last-minute glitch in soft landing guidance software.
Similar to Chandrayaan 2 mission, Chandrayaan-3 will also include a modified lander and rover. The mission will not include an orbiter, due to the success of the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter. It will use the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter to communicate with the earth.
The rocket that will launch the Chandrayaan 2 spacecraft has been declared ready and it awaits launch day.
The Chandrayaan 3 mission was scheduled to launch in 2020 itself but it got delayed due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many of ISRO's missions were pushed back due to the pandemic. ISRO conducted only two routine launches last year, out of which one aboard the GSLV rocket failed as the last stage of the vehicle did not ignite due to loss of pressure.
The space agency plans to make up for the time lost with an extremely busy year ahead with at least 8 launches planned this year.
Chandrayaan 2 mission
Chandrayaan 2 mission's lander module, Vikram lander was scheduled to make a historic moon landing on September 7, 2019. A successful landing would have made India the first nation to make a soft landing near the Moon's South Pole.
While Vikram Lander had successfully begun its powered descent and the entire mission seemed to be progressing as planned, just a few seconds before touchdown, ISRO's Mission Control Centre lost contact with the Vikram Lander.
ISRO released a formal statement saying that Vikram Lander’s descent was just as it had been planned and normal performance was observed till it reached an altitude of 2.1 km, after which they lost contact with the lander. It was discovered later with the help of NASA orbiter that Vikram lander had crash-landed on the lunar surface.
The Chandrayaan 2 orbiter was though deployed properly and will reportedly continue to function for at least seven years.
ISRO's attempt and Chandrayaan 2 mission achievements though received immense praise from world leaders and foreign space agencies including NASA.
Only three countries have managed to successfully land missions on the Moon including the Soviet Union, United States and China.
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