According to Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Chairman S Somanath, Chandrayaan-3, the third iteration of ISRO’s moon mission, would launch between July 12 and July 19, 2023, if tests go as planned. The ISRO Chairman was speaking at Kothavara St Xavier’s College, Vaikam in Kottayam district after inaugurating a one-day workshop and space exhibition organised by ISRO on Monday. S Somanath said that the Chandrayaan has already reached the launch pad in Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, from U R Rao Satellite Centre.
“The final preparations are going on. It will be completed by the end of this month. The rocket, LVM-3, is going to be used for this launch and its assembly is going on. All parts for its assembly have reached Sriharikota. It will be launched between July 12 and 19,” said ISRO chairman S Somanath.
He said that in order to avoid any problems during the upcoming launch, corrections have been made in Chandrayaan-3, in its hardware, structure, computers, software, and sensors.
“More fuel added and the landing legs have been strengthened. For producing more energy big solar panels have been fixed. And an additional sensor is also added. To measure its speed, a ‘Laser Doppler VelociMeter’ instrument, which was developed in the last year, has been added. We have also changed its algorithm and new software has been added to help Chandrayaan to land in another area if there is any failure at the scheduled spot,” said the ISRO Chairman.
Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.
According to ISRO, the three mission objectives of the Chandrayaan-3 are- to demonstrate safe and soft landing on the lunar surface; to demonstrate Rover roving on the moon and to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.
As per ISRO, the propulsion module will carry the lander and rover configuration till 100km lunar orbit. The propulsion module has a Spectropolarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload to study the spectral and polarimetric measurements of Earth from the lunar orbit. The GSLV-Mk3 launch vehicle, which will deposit the integrated module in an Elliptic Parking Orbit (EPO) with dimensions of 170 x 36500 kilometres, has been designated for Chandrayaan-3.
