Chandrayaan-3 mission to place India among top players. Latest 10 updates

1. The mission follows Chandrayaan-2 where scientists aim to demonstrate various capabilities including reaching the orbit of the moon, making a soft landing on the lunar surface using a lander, and a rover coming out of the lander to study the surface of the moon.

2. Ahead of India’s ambitious space programme Chandrayaan-3, former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan on Thursday said its successful landing will make India only the fourth nation to achieve this and it would increase the potential for space science development in the country.

3. Presently, India’s presence in the $600 billion industry stands at a modest 2%. Narayanan further highlighted that with the introduction of private participation in technology development, there would be expanded prospects for startups to enter the sector. 

 4. A successful mission would see India enter an elite club of nations achieving such a feat, the others being the United States, China and the former Soviet Union.

5. The spacecraft will be launched on a GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle. This will be Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) follow-up attempt after the Chandrayaan-2 mission faced challenges during its soft landing in 2019.

6. A day ahead of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, a team of ISRO scientists on Thursday visited and offered prayers at Tirupathi Venkatachalapathy Temple in Andhra Pradesh with a miniature model of Chandrayaan-3. If all goes well, Chandrayaan-3 will be the first spacecraft to land on Moon’s South Pole, demonstrating India’s technical prowess and bold spacefaring ambitions.

7. Chandrayaan-3 mission will demonstrate a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface, rover roving on the moon and conducting in-situ scientific experiments. ISRO invited citizens to witness the launch of the much-awaited Chandrayaan-3 from the viewing gallery at Sriharikota. During the Chandrayaan-2 mission, ISRO lost contact with the lander when it was just a notch away from the moon’s surface.

8. Upon landing, it will operate for one lunar day, which is approximately 14 Earth days. One day on Moon is equal to 14 days on Earth. K Sivan, former director of ISRO, told ANI that the success of mission Chandrayan-3 will give a morale boost to programs like Gaganyan. 

9. Chandrayaan-3’s development phase commenced in January 2020 with plans to launch it somewhere in 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused delays in the development process. The major discovery of the Chandrayaan-1 mission, launched in 2008, is the detection of water (H2O) and hydroxyl (OH) on the lunar surface. Data also revealed their enhanced abundance towards the polar region.

10. The primary science objective of the mission was to prepare a three-dimensional atlas of both the near and far sides of the Moon and to conduct chemical and mineralogical mapping of the entire lunar surface with high spatial resolution, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre under ISRO had said.

(With inputs from agencies)

Updated: 14 Jul 2023, 09:19 AM IST