Chandrayaan 3 LIVE updates | Countdown begins as ISRO's spacecraft on verge of achieving historic feat

Nilesh M Desai, Director, Space Applications Centre-ISRO, Ahmedabad, said that they will postpone Chandrayaan's planned Moon landing from August 23 to August 27, if the conditons are unfavourable.

"On August 23, two hours before Chandrayaan-3 lands on the Moon, we will take a decision on whether or not it will be appropriate to land it at that time based on the health of the lander module and the conditions on the Moon. In case, if any factor appears to be not favourable, then we will land the module on the Moon on August 27. No problem should occur and we will be able to land the module on August 23," Desai told ANI news agency. 

According to the ISRO, there are three main mission objectives of Chandrayaan 3. They are to “demonstrate safe and soft landing on the lunar surface”, conduct in-situ scientific experiments on the Moon. And third, demonstrating roving on the less explored south pole region of the Moon.

The distance between the Earth and Moon is more than 238,855 miles (384,400 km), it could take approximately 2.6 seconds for two-way radio communication to travel that far. That's the kind of lag that the ISRO Mission Operations team at the Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bengaluru, would be facing while transmitting and receiving signals to and from the Chandrayaan-3 lander that's circling the Moon.

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As more than a billion Indians prepare for a historic moment of lunar touchdown on August 23rd, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has said that communication with the orbiter of partially successful Chandrayaan-2 mission has been established. 

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The budget of Chandrayaan-3 is not very expensive. About three years ago, former ISRO chief K Sivan had told reported that the approved cost of this mission, which excludes the cost of launch vehicle, is approximately Rs. 2.5 billion; this cost includes the land rover and the propulsion module for this mission. In addition to this, the launch service costs Rs. 3.65 billion; taking the total budget of the Chandrayaan 3 mission to Rs. 6.15 billion or about $75 million dollars.

Former ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said on Monday said the Chandrayaan-3 landing on Moon invovles  "a very complex manoeuvre" " We narrowly missed it (soft landing on the Moon in Chandrayaan-2 mission) in the last two kms (above the lunar surface)."

"So there are a host of things that have to work in unison....thrusters, sensors, altimeters, computer software and all those things. Any glitch happening anywhere...we can be in trouble...We have to be really cautious and watch. Of course, I understand that ISRO has done enough simulations and also redundancies have been built in so that chances of such failure are remote. Still, we have to keep our fingers crossed," he told PTI news agency on Monday. 

Indian actor Prakash Raj has always been a vocal critic of the current Indian government but his post on the country’s latest moon mission has triggered many netizens. His post on Chandrayaan-3 has not gone down well with people who think his sarcastic jibe is in “poor taste” and “insensitive”. 

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Days before Chandrayaan-3's lander Vikram touches down on the surface of the Moon, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has said that it has established a two-way communication with the orbiter of the mission's predecessor.

"Welcome, buddy!' Ch-2 orbiter formally welcomed Ch-3 LM. Two-way communication between the two is established. MOX has now more routes to reach the LM," the space agency said on social media platform X.

The Luna-25 probe, Russia's first Moon mission in almost 50 years, crashed on the Moon's surface after an unspecified incident during pre-landing manoeuvres, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Sunday.

The crash comes almost a year and a half into Russia's Ukraine offensive that has seen Moscow isolated, with punishing sanctions that have affected its space industry.

Former ISRO director K Sivan told ANI news agency that the space agency has taken corrective measures compared to last time when Chandrayaan-2 crashed just momnets before it could land safely on the southern pole side of the Moon.

"Last time after the landing process, we had gone through the data...Based on that, corrective measures have been taken. Not only that, we did something more than what we corrected. Wherever the margins are less, we enhanced those margins...Based on the lessons we learnt from Chandrayaan 2, the system is going with more ruggedness..."

Chandrayaan-3 is set to land on the Moon on August 23, 2023, around 6. 04 pm (Indian Standard Time)