Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief S Somnath on Friday said that Chandrayaan-3 will be sent to the Moon in July this year as the launch window will open on June 12.
He explained that Chandrayaan-3 is similar to Chandrayaan-2 as it has the same scientific architecture and mission objective. Somnath said that the launch details will announced soon.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission will e launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota to the part of the Moon. The ISRO chief was speaking with Raj Chengappa, India Today Group Editorial Directorial- Publishing, at the India Today South Conclave 2023.
He also talked about the failure of the Chandrayaan-2 mission at length during this event
Chandrayaan-2 mission haslaunched in 2018 and was a unique combination of three separate systems—an orbiter, a lander, and a rover. While the orbiter worked fine, the lander and rover unit of the mission haslost as it crash-landed on the far side of the Moon.
Going further, he confirmed that the Aditya L-1 mission, designed to study solar coronal, will launched in August this year. The Aditya L-1 mission spacecraft will launched to Lagrange Point 1 to continuously look at the Sun.
Somnath also elaborated on ISRO’s Gaganyaan mission and said 4 pilots have joined as astronaut trainees. He added that the trainees are undergoing coursework and simulations at present. The ISRO chairman said: “We are designing and developing the module in which they will sit”.
He also said that ISRO needs to have at least 4 missions to ensure the crew escape system works. Somnath further noted that the agency needs to undertake unmanned missions to prove the end-to-end capability of the mission and has to repeated at least two times
