Chandrayaan-3
New Delhi: All systems are working perfectly and no contingencies are anticipated on Wednesday, August 23, 2023, when around 1745 hours, the powered descent of the Lander Module of Chandrayaan-3 on the moon is expected to commence, Dr S. Somnath, Chairman, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) and Secretary, Department of Space, said today.
Dr Somnath, who called on the Union Minister of State for Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today, apprised the latter of the status and readiness of Chandrayaan-3 for the moon landing. He said in the next two days, the health of Chandrayaan-3 will be continuously monitored. The final sequence of landing will be loaded two days ahead and tested out, he told the Minister.
ISRO said the Chandrayaan-3 is set to land on the moon on August 23, 2023, around 18:04 hours IST. India will be the fourth country in the world to achieve this feat after the United States, Russia, and China, but India will be the only country in the world to land on the lunar South Pole.
Earlier today, the ISRO shared new images of the Lunar far side area captured by the Chandrayaan-3.
While the Chandrayaan-2 mission was only partially successful since the lander lost contact after a hard landing, the ISRO said it successfully established two-way communication between the Chandrayaan-3 Lander Module and the still-orbiting Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter.
Dr Jitendra Singh expressed his confidence in Chandrayaan-3 making a soft landing this time and hoped that it will script a new history of planetary exploration. He recalled that the first in the series of Chandrayaan, namely Chandrayaan-1, is credited for having discovered the presence of water on the surface of the Moon, which was a new revelation for the world and even the premier Space agencies like the USA’s NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) were fascinated by this discovery and used the inputs for their further experiments.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on 14 July 2023 via the GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota at 2:35 PM. The primary objectives of the Chandrayaan-3 mission are threefold, (a) to demonstrate safe and soft Landing on Lunar Surface; (b) to demonstrate Rover roving on the moon, and (c) to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.
– global bihari bureau
