ISRO Prepares for Chandrayaan-3 Launch, Here’s Everything You Need to Know About India’s Third Lunar Mission

Chandrayaan-3 is an upcoming mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2, and consists of  a lander and a rover. The Chandrayaan-3 is scheduled to launch by LVM3 from Sriharikota on July 13, but can be delayed each day up to July 19. The primary objective of the mission will be to put the lander and rover near the south pole of the Moon by August 2023. It will also aim to achieve some scientific measurements on the surface of moon. 

A week ahead of the launch of India’s third lunar mission, or Chandrayaan-3, here’s everything you need to know about the project. 

The Chandrayaan-3 will have a lander, a rover and a propulsion model. The rover is accommodated inside the lander. There will be certain improvements over the second lunar mission or the Chandrayaan-2. The rover of the upcoming mission will have in it a seismometer, heat flow experiment, and spectrometers.

According to the ISRO website, the new mission has three major objectives. These include safe landing on the moon’s surface, roving on the moon and to conduct certain scientific experiments.

As explained by NASA on its website, the lander will touch down the south polar region of the Moon. Meanwhile, the propulsion module will remain in lunar orbit to help with communications with Earth. The entire mission is expected to last for one lunar daylight period, which is about 14 days on Earth. During the entire period, as ISRO explains, Chandrayaan-2 will be used as a backup relay. The total weight of the Chandrayaan-3 is 3900 kgs. 

The propulsion module on Chandrayaan-3 has a large solar panel mounted on one side and a cylinder on top. The lander, on the other hand, has a number of sensors and advanced technologies. The rover has navigation cameras and a solar panel.