Fresh Bid For Landing On Moon Next Month; Gaganyaan To Delay

After the partial failure of its second moon mission Chandrayaan-2, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will begin a fresh attempt to land a rover on the surface of Earth's lone satellite in the middle of nex month through the launch of Chandrayaan-3 mission.

"Chandrayaan-3 is nearing launch. The satellite has already been moved from the UR Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota," ISRO Chairman Sreedhara Somanath told mediapersons on the sidelines of international conference on Spacecraft Mission Operations (SMOPs-2023).

However, clarifying on the inordinate delay in launching its manned mission to space Gaganyaan, he said ISRO is not in a hurry as it wants to ensure that the country's first human space flight is a 'sure shot safe mission'. Gaganyaan, which was scheduled to be launched last year, had first to be delayed due to the pandemic and now for the safety concerns.

''The first exercise for the project will probably happen in August, which was earlier planned in July. So, two abort missions have to take place this year followed by an unmanned mission possibly by the beginning of next year," the ISRO Chairman said.

The Chandrayaan-3 is identical to the Chandrayaan-2 mission, which failed in the final stage of its launch on September 7, 2019, when the Vikram lander crashed on the surface of the moon while negotiating an automated soft landing.

"The integration of the rocket Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM-3) is currently going on for the purpose. It will be fully ready by the end of this month and we will be assembling the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft to the rocket possibly by the beginning of July," Somanath informed.

"We are going on the same path as Chandrayaan-2 because we have already done that and we are experienced. However, if there are any contingencies, appropriate changes will be carried out. The landing site is going to be the same," he explained.

The ISRO chief said that ISRO has developed a new test facility for its semi-cryogenic engine, which is under development, in order to compensate for lack of access to facilities in Russia and Ukraine following the conflict in the region.

"We have realised a huge test facility. This was commissioned just last month and did the first-ever feed or propellant feed into it. This is successful now. In another few days, we will be starting the firing of the engine. The tests will continue. Another six to seven tests are needed," he added.

About Gaganyaan, Somnath said the space agency has redefined the mission in such a way that it will achieve success in the very first attempt. For this, it has enhanced the testing and demonstration mission substantially in recent times. These exercises involve additional abort missions to ensure the safety of the crew, he explained.

Speaking about India's first solar mission Aditya-L1, the space scientist said the launch window is August this year to January next year. "If we cannot launch it in August then we will go to next year January," he added. Stating that hectic activities are taking place these days, Somanath said at least some major tests are being carried out every week.