At 2.35 p.m. today, India’s Chandrayaan-3 will take off from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, carrying the dreams of the whole country. If the mission is successful, India will be the fourth country to set foot on the moon.
The Bahubali rocket, also known as the GSLV Mark 3 heavy lift launch vehicle, will support the moon lander Vikram. The GSLV, now known as Launch Vehicle Mark 3 (LM-3), is 43.5 metres tall, or about half the height of Delhi’s Qutb Minar. The spacecraft is scheduled to touch down on the moon on August 23 after a voyage that will last more than 40 days.
After its most recent lunar mission in July 2019 failed, the Indian Space Research Organisation is crossing its fingers.
“The main flaw with the most recent Chandrayaan-2 mission was the initiation of off-nominal situations in the system. There were no nominal things. In an exclusive interview with NDTV, ISRO Chief S. Somnath said, “And the craft was not able to handle the off-nominal condition for a safe landing.
India’s mooncraft will make history when it touches down in the moon’s South Pole, where water molecules have been discovered. The discovery, which was made during India’s maiden lunar mission in 2008, stunned the entire globe.
Vikram is supposed to land gently and safely. The lander will subsequently release the rover Pragyan, which will perform research and explore the moon’s surface for a lunar day (14 days on Earth).
The researchers want to examine the lunar soil, explore the moon’s surface, and record moonquakes.
Following lessons from the previous moon mission, ISRO claims to have upgraded the software and decreased the lander’s engine count from five to four. Everything has been put through extensive testing.
According to Mr. Somanath, the new mission is set up to land successfully even if some components malfunction. Measures were created to address a number of eventualities, such as sensor failure, engine failure, algorithm failure, and computation failure.
India’s first lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, was launched in October 2008 and operated until August 2009.
