According to a statement made by Union Minister Jitendra Singh, India is again preparing to launch Chandrayan-III on the surface of the Moon. Chandrayaan-III will be launched in the first half of 202. He also indicated that there could be a slight delay in the launch of the third moon mission.
India learnt its lesson from Chandrayan-II and this mission has been configured based on that. Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman K Sivan had earlier stated that the configuration of Chandrayaan-3 will be similar to Chandrayaan-II, adding that Chandrayan-II was the most complex mission that ISRO had attempted.
Singh in a written response to a question in Lok Sabha stated that during the Ganganyaan project, four biological and two physical science experiments related to microgravity will be conducted. Gaganyaan is India's manned mission to space.
While talking about Gangayaan, Singh added that for the ground test, hardware realisation has commenced and space flight training of four astronaut candidates had begun.
ISRO again aims to land on the south pole of Moon
The configuration is being revised so that the flexibility enhancement and design robustness can be taken care of. ISRO had aimed to land on the south pole of Moon, on a spot where no other landing craft had reached before.
This time too ISRO will make attempts to reach the same spot. The mission will have a lander, rover and propulsion module like the previous mission. The total cost of the spacecraft will be around Rs 610 crore, including Rs 360 crore for the launch rocket.
Singh said, "The tentative launch schedule for Chandrayaan-III is the first half of 2021. Chandrayaan-III mission has been configured based on the lessons learnt from Chadrayaan - II."
In 2019, Chandrayaan-II had hard-landed on lunar surface crashing hopes of millions as it could do what it was expected to.
When that happened, ISRO had decided that it will launch the project again. It had said the project is likely to be launched by the end of the year.
A three-week training programme for flight surgeon was also completed at ISRO with assistance from a space agency of France.
