WION Exclusive: Chandrayaan-3 launch on July 13, lunar landing by August-end

If all goes as per plan, India's heaviest rocket LVM3 (Launch Vehicle Mark 3) will lift off at 14:30hrs (Indian Standard Time) on July 13, from the second launchpad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, carrying India's third Lunar mission- Chandrayaan-3, WION has learnt. ISRO has, however, not confirmed the launch date officially.

At present, the spacecraft has been integrated with the payload adapter, a piece of hardware that connects the spacecraft to the upper stage of the rocket. The 640-tonne LVM3 rocket is in its final stage of integration and the cryogenic upper stage is soon to be stacked atop the vehicle, following which the spacecraft will be mounted, securely nestled in the payload fairing (rocket nose cone). The launch vehicle is expected to be moved from the vehicle assembly building to the second launchpad around July 7.

Dr S Somanath, Chairman, ISRO told WION that the Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover would retain the names used in Chandrayaan-2. This implies that the Lunar lander will be known as 'Vikram', a tribute to Dr Vikram A Sarabhai, the brain behind the Indian space programme. The rover will be known as 'Pragyan', a Sanskrit word that means wisdom. We are looking at a Lunar landing around August-end, Dr Somanath added.

India is undertaking its third Lunar mission and second Lunar landing attempt, after the previous mission Chandrayaan-2 could not perform soft landing. While barely two kilometres above the Lunar surface, as it was approaching for a vertical landing, ISRO lost contact with the then 'Vikram' Lunar lander. The lander had made a hard landing on the lunar surface, which it did not survive, thus leaving the Lunar landing mission incomplete. However, the orbiter from Chandrayaan-2 continues to circle the moon and provide science data from its payloads. Therefore, Chandrayaan-3 will not be having an orbiter that is mounted with multiple science payloads. Instead, it will serve as a propulsion module that will help the integrated spacecraft reach the Lunar orbit.

The Chandrayaan-3 orbiter weighs lesserthan its predecessor. However, the payload mass reduced from the orbiter has been added to the Chandrayaan-3 Lunar lander. This time around, ISRO had ruggedised the Lunar added, placed larger solar panels for better power generation, added more fuel that can be used for manoeuvring, undertaken measures for failure tolerance and increased the scientific payloads.

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," Dr S 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).

Watch:Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft has arrived at spaceport Sriharikota: ISRO chief to WION

Earlier, the chairman of ISRO had told WION that the launch window for Chandrayaan-3 on board the LVM3 rocket would be between July 12 and July 19. The launch window is the ideal period for a launch mission and any day within that interval would be chosen based on a host of factors. Given that the Indian Lunar spacecraft would require around six weeks to travel from the earth to the moon (a distance of 3,84,000kms), precise calculations are carried out and the launch time is determined down to the minute.

When determining the time of launch, the mission planners consider the weather forecast, a flight path that is free of space debris, the dynamic position of the destination (with respect to Earth), the time taken to travel to the destination, the manoeuvres involved, the rocket being used, the purpose of the mission, day or night time at the destination (during the time of landing), the movement and impact of other heavenly bodies etc.

Given that the launch window for Chandryaan-3 is just around a week, ISRO would work towards ensuring that the launch happens in the first few days of the window. It is pertinent to remember that Chandrayaan-2 was originally scheduled for launch on 15th July 2019, but ISRO called off that day's launch, owing to a technical snag that was observed while the rocket's cryogenic fuels were being filled. ISRO took a week to rectify the issue and finally carried out the launch on 22nd July 2019. Therefore, ISRO's goal would be to launch in the first two days of the window, so that they can have a handful of days at hand, in case of any unexpected technical issues.

Queried about how confident he was about the positive mission outcome of Chandrayaan-3, Dr Somanath had 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".

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