Launch of Chandrayaan-3 delayed further to 2022 due to COVID-19 pandemic

The Chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation- ISRO K Sivan informed that India’s third mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-3, is likely to be launched in the year 2022.

The lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic has affected several projects of ISRO including Gaganyaan, the first manned mission of India, and Chandrayaan-3, which was earlier scheduled to be launched in 2020.

Chandrayaan-3 is also critical for ISRO as it will be demonstrating the capabilities of India to make landing for the further interplanetary mission. Chandrayaan- 3, unlike its predecessor, will not have an orbiter.

Launch of Chandrayaan-3:

The ISRO Chief K Sivan while informing about the much-awaited launch mentioned that the team has been working on it. He added that it is the same configuration as Chandrayaan-2 but it will not have any orbiter.

The orbiter which was launched during Chandrayaan-2 will be used for Chandrayaan-3 as well. With this, the team has been working on a system, and most probably the launch will be in the year 2022.

Previous launch of Chnadrayaan-2:

Chadrayaan-2 was launched on July 22, 2019, and aimed at landing a rover on the unchartered lunar South Pole. It was onboard the country’s most powerful geosynchronous launch vehicle.

However, the lander Vikram hard-landed on September 7, 2019, crashing the dream of India to become the first nation for successfully landing on the surface of the moon in its maiden attempt.

Launch of Gaganyaan:

The ISRO Chief has informed that the space agency has been targeting December 2021 for the launch of the first unmanned mission under the Gaganyaan project. The mission was earlier scheduled to launch in December 2020. 

He further informed that the launch will be followed by another unmanned mission and that the third leg is the main module.

While informing about the launch of the third module of Gaganyaan which will be a manned mission, the ISRO chief said that a lot of technology needs to be demonstrated. The team will decide on the time (of the manned mission) after checking if all the technology is perfect.

Gaganyaan aims at sending three Indians to space by 2022. The four test pilots who have been selected for the mission have been currently undergoing training in Russia.