The Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO, will launch India’s third lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3, from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh at 2.35 pm today carrying the hopes of an entire nation.
A successful mission will make India the fourth nation to land on the moon, after the United States, Russia, and China, to achieve this remarkable feat.
Chandrayaan-3 will be carried after the loss of its predecessor, Chandrayaan-2 in 2019.
Here’s all you need to know about Chandrayaan-3:
- The spacecraft will be launched on a GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle.
- The GSLV stands at a height of 43.5 meters, and with a diameter of 4 meters, the LVM-3 weighs an impressive 640 tons at liftoff. With a diameter of 4 meters and a height of 43.5 meters, the GSLV weighs an astonishing 640 tons when it lifts off. It can deliver payloads up to 8,000 kg to a low-Earth orbit. It can transport about 4,000 kg of cargo to distant destinations like the geostationary transfer orbit.
- The spacecraft will take over 40 days on its journey from earth to the moon and is expected to land on the moon on August 23.
- Vikram, after a soft landing, will release the rover Pragyan, which will operate for one lunar day around the moon, which is equivalent to 14 days on earth. 14 days on Earth are equivalent to one day on the moon. The researchers hope to analyse the lunar soil, send a rover to investigate the moon’s surface, and take earthquake recordings.
- According to ISRO, it has reduced the number of engines on the lander from five to four and updated the software after learning from past experience. Everything has undergone rigorous testing.
- Chairman of ISRO, S. Somanath, explained that the new mission has been designed to land successfully even if certain elements fail. Several scenarios, including sensor failure, engine failure, algorithm failure, and calculation failure, were examined, and measures were developed to counteract them.
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