Chandrayaan 3 to be launched on July 14, estimated Moon landing August 23-24: ISRO Chairman S Somanath

He was speaking at a media briefing at the fourth edition of the Space Economy Leaders Meeting in Bengaluru on Thursday.

Chandrayaan 3 will consist of a lander and a rover similar to Chandrayaan-2, whose landing had failed.

“The launch lift-off time is 2.35 pm on July 14. We will be ready for landing most probably by the last week of August. The date will depend on the sunrise on moon. During landing, sunlight has to be there,” Somanath said, adding that, unlike on earth, for 15 days there will be no sunlight on the moon in one location, post which, there will be 15 days of sunlight on the moon.

“We did a data analysis and simulation, and understood the problems of Chandrayaan 2’s failure to land. Our landing gear was designed to handle a speed of two metres per second. We have increased the capacity by 50% this time. We have doubled its capacity,” Somanath said, giving details about its solar panels, sensors, cameras, and laser doppler velocity.

He added that landing demonstrations have been done with upgraded software. He mentioned that the rover and the lander will both have a life of 14 days.

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Earlier in the day, Pawan Goenka, chairman, Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe), said the revival of the space foreign direct investment (FDI) policy is currently in the works and will be released soon.Representatives from 86 space companies were present at the meeting.

“Today, India has more than 150 (space) startups… The 60-year-old sector is becoming a sunrise sector in India… Global partnerships are important to all of us, especially India. In technology, and infrastructure, connecting private industry with trade agreements are also important,” Goenka said.

Amitabh Kant, India’s G-20 sherpa, said the space economy is experiencing rapid growth with increasing revenue and more commercial actors entering the sector. Studies say it could become a $1 trillion sector in the coming decades, he said.

“This exponential growth necessitates support from governments worldwide. That’s why we are discussing space as a formal element within the G-20 meet,” Kant said.

“Revival of the space FDI policy is currently in the works, and we hope that it will be released soon. Also, there is the Space Activities Bill, to make some of these changes into law, which is under consideration,” Goenka added.

The bill covers various factors of India’s space goals, including international and national obligations, defines offences and subsequent punishments, barriers of entry for private companies and liability for damages caused in space, etc.

Somanath said bringing the leaders of space agencies and industries from 26 countries for a face-to-face meeting in a short time was a challenge to India.

“Together we are on a journey to achieve space being inducted as a formal agenda item in G-20 in the future. This fourth edition of SELM will speed up that journey in which many space agencies and industries are already on board,” Somanath said.

Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, minister of state for external affairs, said India has over 400 private space companies working to harness this sector.

“We also have a student outreach programme. This programme is designed to cultivate scientific temper among young minds. Space technology can bring immense predictability to the varieties of climate changes, agricultural harvest, food security, natural disasters, and even distribution of economic drought. These uncertainties unfold the worst impact on developing countries,” Singh said.

ISRO has set three main objectives for the Chandrayaan-3 mission, which includes: Getting a lander safe and soft landing on the surface of the moon; observing and demonstrating the rover’s loitering capabilities on the moon; In-site scientific observation making scientific experiments on the chemical and natural elements, soil, water, etc. available on the surface of the moon to better understand the composition of the moon.