ISRO May Delay Chandrayaan-3 Landing to August 27 – Here’s the Reason

The Space Applications Centre-ISRO announced on Monday that if any aspect of the lander module is deemed unfavorable, the landing date for Chandrayaan-3 will be rescheduled to August 27.

Ahmedabad-based Space Applications Centre-ISRO Director Nilesh M Desai said the decision to land will be taken based on the condition of the lander and the conditions on the moon.

“On August 23, two hours before Chandrayaan-3 will land on the Moon, we will decide based on the condition of the landing module and the conditions on the Moon, whether it is worth landing at that time or not. , if any factor does not seem favorable, we will land the module on the Moon on August 27. No problem should not occur and we can calculate the module on August 23,” director Desai said.

ISRO Chairman and Space Department Secretary S Somanath called on Union Minister for Science and Technology, Atomic Energy and Space Jitendra Singh in New Delhi today and apprised him about the status and readiness of Chandrayaan-3. The moon landing is planned for August 23, 2023.

Briefing the minister about the health status of Chandrayaan-3, Chairman ISRO said that all systems are working perfectly and no emergency is expected on Wednesday.

Over the next two days, the health of Chandrayaan-3 will be continuously monitored. The final landing gear is loaded two days in advance and tested, he said.

During the meeting, Minister Jitendra Singh expressed confidence that Chandrayaan-3 would make a soft landing this time and hoped that it would script a new history of planetary exploration under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

ISRO said Chandrayaan-3 is scheduled to land on the Moon on August 23, 2023 at around 6:04 PM IST.

Live action will be available on ISRO’s website, its YouTube channel, Facebook and broadcaster DD National TV from 23.08.2023 at 17:27 IST.

Although the Chandrayaan-2 mission was only “partially” successful as the lander lost contact after a hard landing, ISRO successfully established a two-way link between the Chandrayaan-3 lander and the still orbiting Chandrayaan-2 orbiter. In a significant development, the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, already fixed around the moon, established a two-way link with the Chandrayaan-3 lander on Monday.

Earlier today, ISRO shared new images of the far side of the Moon captured by Chandrayaan-3.

India is the fourth country in the world to achieve this feat after the US, Russia and China, but India is the only country in the world to land on the south pole of the moon.

The primary objectives of the Chandrayaan-3 mission are threefold – to demonstrate a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface; illustrates the rover’s movement on the moon and performs scientific in situ experiments.

The development phase of Chandrayaan-3 began in January 2020 and the launch was planned sometime in 2021. However, the Covid-19 pandemic brought an unexpected delay to the progress of the mission.

Jitendra Singh reminded that the first of the Chandrayaan series, i.e. Chandrayaan-1, is credited with discovering the presence of water on the surface of the Moon, which was a new revelation to the world and even to major space agencies such as the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) who were fascinated by this discovery and used the data for his follow-up experiment.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on 14 July 2023 by a GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy launch vehicle from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh at 2:35 PM.

Ahead of the much-awaited soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon’s South Pole, former Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) director and director of the previous lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 K Sivan earlier today. said the mission would be a “huge success.”

“It’s a very nerve-wracking moment… I’m sure this time it will be a big success,” Sivan said while talking to ANI.

“We have our own system and we plan to build a soft bill without any problems. But it’s a complicated process,” he said when asked if it would have any impact after the failure of Russia’s Luna-25 mission. Russia’s lunar mission failed after its Luna-25 spacecraft spun out of control and crashed into the moon on Sunday.

He said corrective measures have been taken after going through the data generated by the Chandrayaan-2 mission. When asked if these additional systems were also original, Sivan replied: “Everything is original.”

Earlier today, ISRO released images of the far side of the moon using the Lander Hazard Detection and Avoidance Camera (LHDAC). This camera helps locate a safe landing area – free of boulders or deep pits – during landing.

Notably, the spacecraft’s Vikram landing module successfully separated from the propulsion module recently, followed by important deboost maneuvers and a descent into a slightly lower orbit. The lander of the Chandrayaan-3 mission is named after Vikram Sarabhai (1919–1971), widely regarded as the father of India’s space programme.

The spacecraft, which was placed into lunar orbit on August 5, was launched using a GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy launch vehicle and has since gone through a series of orbital maneuvers that have brought it closer to the lunar surface. .

It has been one month and seven days since the Indian Space Research Organization launched the Chandrayaan-3 mission on July 14. The spacecraft was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

The stated objectives of Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar mission, are safe and soft landing, lunar surface locomotion and in situ scientific experiments.

The approved price of Chandrayaan-3 is ₹ 250 (excluding the cost of the launcher).

The development phase of Chandrayaan-3 began in January 2020 and the launch was planned sometime in 2021. However, the Covid-19 pandemic brought an unexpected delay to the progress of the mission.

Chandrayaan-2’s major scientific results include the first global sodium map of the moon, increased information on crater size distribution, unambiguous detection of lunar surface water ice by the IIRS instrument, and more.