India: The Indian Space Agency, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has started the countdown to launch its Chandrayaan-3 moon mission from the southeastern island of Sriharikota. The Chandrayaan, ‘Moon Vehicle’ In Sanskrit, is expected to launch on Indian time at 2:35 PM on 14th July 2023.
It’s the second attempt by ISRO, as the first attempt (Chandrayan-2) for the soft landing was a failure. ISRO’s first lunar probe, the Chandrayaan-1, orbited the moon and crash-landed onto the lunar surface in 2008.
India will be the fourth country, including the United States, Russia, and China, to soft-land on the moon’s surface if it succeeds in the mission. India has spent around $75 million on its Chandrayaan mission. The most important goals of the mission are to safely land on the moon’s south pole around 23rd August 2023. Then, the Pragyan rover should move into lunar space and look for scientific findings regarding the moon’s composition.
The Chandrayaan 1 mission has made historic achievements, including discovering water molecules on the moon’s surface. Even Chandrayan 2 entered the lunar orbit but failed to make a safe landing. Nevertheless, the scientists at ISRO are optimistic about this mission.
The Indian government is very supportive of all missions of the Indian Space Agency, as per the statement. When the Chandrayan 2 mission failed, the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, hailed the engineers behind the mission despite the failure. Mr. Modi has discussed more collaboration in the space economy with US President Mr. Joe Biden, whom he met last month during a state visit to America, as per the statement.
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