In August 2022, India will make its second attempt to land on the Moon. Over two years after India’s previous mission failed minutes before a scheduled touchdown, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to reverse the outcome of Chandrayaan-2.
ISRO will embark on its third voyage to Moon in August 2022 with mission Chandrayaan-3. MoS, Science and Technology Jitendra Singh revealed the information in reply to a question in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Regarding the status of the mission, Jitendra Singh said, based on the learnings from Chandrayaan-2 and suggestions made by the national level experts, the realization of Chandrayaan-3 is in progress.
“Many related hardware and their special tests are successfully completed, the launch is scheduled for August 2022,” he added.
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India’s Lunar Exploration Journey
Chandrayaan-3 is the continuation of mission Chandrayaan-2 of 2019. Chandrayaan-2 was designed to land a rover on the lunar South Pole.
Had the mission been successful, it would have been the first time in history that a country had managed to soft-land its rover on the Moon in its very first attempt.
Chandrayaan-3
Chandrayaan-3 has the same configuration as Chandrayaan-2. Unlike Chandrayaan-2, it will not have an orbiter. It will only have a lander and a rover.
Chandrayaan-3 will use the orbiter launched during Chandrayaan-2, which is still in perfect condition.
Chandrayaan-2
ISRO launched Chandrayaan-2 on July 22, 2019. It was not a complete success. And was not a failure either. Chandrayaan-2 had carried an orbiter, a lander, and a rover to the Moon.
After successfully placing the orbiter, Lander Vikram moved towards the surface of the Moon with the rover Pragyan, but at the last moment, it lost contact with the control room and could not make a safe landing. The lander and rover had crashed at a distance from their destination. It had carried some equipment with it to analyze the lunar soil.
Chandrayaan-1
Chandrayaan-1 marked the beginning of India’s lunar exploration journey. Chandrayaan-1, India’s maiden mission to Moon, was launched in October 2008 and had discovered water on the lunar surface.
19 Missions In 2022
The Chandrayaan-3 mission was scheduled for 2021, but the coronavirus pandemic delayed the launch. On the other hand Department of Space has planned to launch 19 missions in 2022. It includes eight launch vehicle missions, seven spacecraft missions and four technology demonstration missions.
If ISRO succeeds, India will join the elite group of the US, Russia and China, who have achieved the feat of soft-land on the lunar surface.
