Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar exploration mission, took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on Friday afternoon, in hopes to land the country among the elite group of nations to have achieved a soft landing on the Moon's surface. (Chandrayaan-3 launch LIVE updates)
The mission follows the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Chandrayaan-2, which failed a desired soft landing on the lunar surface nearly four years ago in September 2019, after the lander’s communication failure with the ground stations at an altitude of just 2.1 km from the surface of the Moon.
Chandrayaan-3 will journey for over a month before landing on the lunar surface later in August. If successful, the mission will make India the only fourth nation, after the United States, the former Soviet Union and China, to have accomplished the task.
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The ISRO explained the three main objectives of this ₹615 crore mission – safe and soft landing on the Moon, to demonstrate the Rover roving on its surface and study its environment. The spacecraft consists of a six-wheeled lander and rover module, which is configured with payloads to provide data related to the moon's surface. “Chandrayaan-3 consists of an indigenous Lander module (LM), Propulsion module (PM) and a Rover with an objective of developing and demonstrating new technologies required for interplanetary missions,” the ISRO explained on its website about the project.
Also Read: Who is Ritu Karidhal, the woman behind ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 mission
{{/usCountry}}The ISRO explained the three main objectives of this ₹615 crore mission – safe and soft landing on the Moon, to demonstrate the Rover roving on its surface and study its environment. The spacecraft consists of a six-wheeled lander and rover module, which is configured with payloads to provide data related to the moon's surface. “Chandrayaan-3 consists of an indigenous Lander module (LM), Propulsion module (PM) and a Rover with an objective of developing and demonstrating new technologies required for interplanetary missions,” the ISRO explained on its website about the project.
Also Read: Who is Ritu Karidhal, the woman behind ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 mission
{{/usCountry}}The ISRO and the former scientists associated with the space agency, including ex-chairman Madhavan Nair and scientist Nambi Narayan, expressed high confidence about the success of the mission. Both Nair and Narayan reiterated that the ISRO has revised the data collected from Chandrayaan-2 mission, factored in all elements and studied past mistakes. “Chandrayaan-3 will definitely be a game changer for India and I hope it will be successful,” Narayan had told news agency ANI ahead of the launch.
Visuals surfaced from across India showing people cheering for Chandrayaan-3, congratulating and wishing ISRO in anticipation of the mission's success ahead of its launch. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in France at present, also tweeted this morning, expressing optimism about the mission and said it will carry the “hopes and dreams of India.”
The mission brings back the memories of Chandrayaan-2 launch, which successfully deployed an orbiter but its lander and rover were destroyed in a crash. The image of an emotional and dejected K Sivan, the then ISRO chief, being consoled by PM Modi during the moment remains etched in the memories of many.