Sriharikota: Chandrayaan-3, scheduled to be launched from Sriharikota on 14 July, will make India the fourth country to land its spacecraft on the surface of the moon, said Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh, on Sunday.
“Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission of Chandrayaan-2 and is aimed to demonstrate India’s capability in soft landing and roving on the surface of the moon or the Lunar surface. The complex mission profile required for the spacecraft to enter the moon’s orbit has been executed very precisely. After the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the surface of the moon, the rover, which has six wheels, will come out and is expected to work for 14 days on the moon. With the support of multiple cameras on the rover, we will be able to receive images,” Singh said.
The primary objectives of Chandrayaan-3 mission are threefold–to demonstrate Safe and Soft Landing on Lunar Surface, to demonstrate Rover roving on the moon and to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.
The launch of Chandrayaan-3 is of great significance, particularly because Chandrayaan-2 Mission could not yield the desired results because of a lapse of just about 13 minutes after the spacecraft began its descent on 6 September 2019.
Chandrayaan-3 has undergone a few changes to increase the robustness of the Lander. “All these modifications have been subject to exhaustive ground tests and simulations through test beds. The Lander and Rover module of Chandrayaan-3 is also configured with payloads that would provide data to the scientific community on various properties of Lunar Soil and rocks including its chemical and elemental composition, said Dr Singh.
It may be noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent USA visit was marked by significant space-related agreements, indicating that the countries which had started their space journey long before India are today looking up to India as an equal collaborator.
