Chandrayaan-3 intended to be launched between July 12 and 19: ISRO chairman to WION

India's third Lunar Mission Chandrayaan-3 will have an orbiter (designated as Propulsion Module), but this orbiter won't carry scientific payloads, as was done during Chandrayaan-2. This means that the orbiter weighs lesser than that of its predecessor. However,the payload mass reduced from the orbiter has been added to the Chandrayaan-3 Lunar lander. The Indian Lunar spacecraft comprises three parts - Orbiter, Lander, and Rover.

"The added mass on the Lunar lander comprises more fuel, more ruggedisation, measures for failure tolerance and strengthening of landing legs and increased scientific payloads, larger solar panels for better power generation," DrS Somanath, Chairman, ISRO told WION. He was responding to WION's question on whether the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft would weigh lesser than its predecessor (which weighed around 3.6 tonnes or 3,600kgs).

Addressing media on the sidelines of ISRO's maiden International Conference on Spacecraft Mission Operations, the Chief of the Indian Space Agency said that Chandrayaan-3 is to be launched in the 1-week window that begins on July 12^th,if all were to go as per plan.

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Deep space missions are launched within a specific window (period of time), keeping in mind various factors including the dynamic position of the destination (with respect to Earth), the time taken to travel to the destination, the steps involved, the rocket being used, the purpose of the mission, the movement and impact of other heavenly bodies, etc.

Elaborating on the status of Chandrayaan-3, he added that the spacecraft was undergoing testing of its propulsion module (orbiter), lander, and rover, while the LVM3 rocket is also being integrated. "India's largest rocket LVM3 will be integrated and ready for Chandrayaan-3 by June-end, whereas by early July the spacecraft would be ready," he said.

Queried about how confident the positive mission outcome of Chandrayaan-3 is, DrSomanath told WION that he is always confident, but space is an unforgiving domain, where only rigorous testing and clear decision-making yield favourable results. Smilingly, making a mention of luck being involved, he said that "even luck comes out of hard work and the perseverance to do the right thing at the right time".

India's latest Lunar mission will take the same path and trajectory as its predecessor, as it is a tried and tested route to the moon, which is at a distance of 3,84,000 kms from Earth. The journey is expected to take around a month and a half, as a circuitous route would be followed. In September 2019, India's second Lunar Mission Chandrayaan-2 crash-landed on the lunar surface, minutes before it was expected to make a controlled vertical landing at the Lunar South Pole. With a successful Lunar landing, India hopes to join the list of nations that includes the US, Russia, and China.

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