ISRO Confirms The Chandrayaan-3 Lunar Mission, Probably Launch This Year

Last year, ISRO had an important, historic mission to land on the south pole of the Moon. However, the mission didn’t turn out as expected when the Chandrayaan 2 crash-landed following a braking error. But that doesn’t stop the country from its next attempt for a soft landing. On January 1, ISRO chief Kailasavadivoo Sivan confirmed during a press briefing that Chandrayaan 3, India’s third lunar mission, had got the approval and could launch this year.

India Today reported that the Chandrayaan-3 will cost a total of Rs 625 crore, which is much cheaper than the Chanrayaan 2 (Rs 960 crore). Aboard the new lunar mission will a lander and a rover, attempting to land on the South pole of the Moon, which is the same landing spot as the Chandrayaan 2. This location has been detected to contain vast water deposits by orbiting satellites, including the Chandrayaan 1.

While India’s minister of department of space Jitendra Singh suggested that the country’s third lunar mission will launch this year, it was noted by Sivan that the Chandrayaan 3 launch date could be put back to 2021. Additionally, in Chandrayaan 3 news, Sivan noted about the landing failure of the Chandrayaan 2, stressing that the fine braking phase didn’t go as planned, which prevented the lander from decreasing its velocity. That, in turn, resulted in the destruction of the mission.

On July 22, 2019, ISRO launched the Chandrayaan 2, including a rover, a lunar lander, and a lunar orbiter. The rover and lander were lost due to the crash landing, but the orbiter still operates in the lunar orbit and will keeping surveying the Moon in the next seven years.

Let’s hope that the Chandrayaan 3 mission will overcome the errors of the previous lunar mission and land successfully on the Moon’s south pole.