Chandrayaan-3 To Be Launched In July, Launch Window Opens On June 12: ISRO Chief

S Somanath, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief, on Friday said that the space organisation is planning to launch Chandrayaan-3 in July.

It will lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota and the window for the mission launch will be from July 12 onwards, S Somnath said at the India Today South Conclave 2023.

The mission carries scientific instruments to study the thermo-physical properties of the lunar regolith, lunar seismicity, lunar surface plasma environment and elemental composition in the vicinity of the landing site.

Talking about the failure of Chandrayaan-2, he said, "We had a failure of the mission but the orbiter is there doing measurements and giving us data. We took a lot of pain to understand what went wrong and understood what the problem was. It was an error in the software, but it will not always be triggered".

Launched in 2018, Chandrayaan-2 had a combination of three separate systems - an orbiter, a lander, and a rover. Although the orbiter functioned smoothly, the lander and rover section, unfortunately, experienced a mishap during the landing process, leading to their loss upon crash-landing on the unexplored side of the Moon.

Coming back to Chandrayaan-3, it has completed several vital tests that validated its capability to withstand the harsh vibration and acoustic environment that the spacecraft would face during its launch. The spacecraft has landed in Sriharikota where it will be integrated with GSLV-MKIII or LVM-3.

"Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. It consists of Lander and Rover configuration", an ISRO official had earlier told PTI.

Meanwhile, the Aditya L-1 mission, designed to study solar coronal, will be launched in August this year, the ISRO chief said at the India Today event. It will be launched to Lagrange Point to look at the Sun continuously.

On Gaganyaan's mission, he said that the four pilots joined as astronaut trainees, are undergoing coursework and simulations at present. "We are designing and developing the module in which they will sit," he added.