All eyes are on ISRO ‘s Chandrayaan-3, the country’s ambitious lunar mission. Scientists are also keen to taste success with a soft landing on lunar surface which will put India in an elite club of nations that have accomplished the challenging task.
A success would make India only the fourth country to achieve the feat after the United States, China and the former Soviet Union.
Chandrayaan-3 is the third lunar exploration mission ready for take off in the fourth operational mission (M4) of LVM3 launcher.
The largest and heaviest LVM3 rocket (formerly GSLV MkIII), fondly called as ‘fat boy’ by ISRO scientists.
As for its heavylift capability, has completed six consecutive successful missions.
Today’s ISRO mission is the fourth operational flight of LVM3 which aims to launch the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft into a Geo Transfer Orbit.
Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2. Unlike its predecessor, carried an orbiter along with Vikram & Pragyan (the rover). Chandrayaan-3 is a composite of 3 modules: Propulsion, lander and rover.
The lander is expected to land around 40 days after the launch, on August 23 or 24.
After the launch from the earth’s surface, the module would enter the lunar orbit. Thus, from where the lander would then separate and attempt to manoeuvre a soft landing on the surface of the moon.