Chandrayaan-3, due to launch from Sriharikota this week, will make “India the fourth country to land its spacecraft on the surface of the Moon,” said the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology. , Jitendra Singh, on Sunday.
He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to the United States was marked by important space-related deals indicating that countries that had started their space journey long before India now look to the country as an equal partner.
After such a huge increase in our space experience under the regime of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “India can no longer wait to be left behind in its march to the moon,” the minister said.
Singh said that Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-up mission to Chandrayaan-2 and is aimed at demonstrating India’s capability in soft landing and roaming on the surface of the Moon or lunar surface. The complex mission profile, he said, required for the spacecraft to enter orbit of the Moon has been executed with great precision.
“After the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the surface of the Moon, the rover, which has six wheels, will leave and is expected to work for 14 days on the Moon. With the support of various cameras on the rover, we may be able to receive images,” he said, according to a ministry statement.
Giving full credit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for providing an enabling environment for space workers and making innovative decisions like unlocking the space sector for Public Private Partnership (PPP), Singh said, based on the current growth trajectory, the space sector of India could be a $1 trillion economy in the next few years.
Singh said: “The main objectives of the Chandrayaan-3 mission are threefold: to demonstrate a safe and smooth landing on the lunar surface, to demonstrate the rover hovers around the moon, and to conduct on-site scientific experiments.”
The minister recalled that the first of the series of Chandrayaan missions, namely Chandrayaan-1, is credited with discovering the presence of water on the surface of the Moon, which was a new revelation to the world and even to the Major space agencies such as the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) were fascinated by this discovery and used the inputs for their subsequent experiments.
Chandrayyan-3, he said, will be operating at the next level. The spacecraft will use the Mark-3 launch vehicle developed by ISRO for its launch, he added.
Singh added: “There is tremendous enthusiasm across the country for the launch of Chandrayaan-3, particularly as the Chandrayaan-2 mission failed to produce the desired results due to a lapse of about 13 minutes after the spacecraft began its descent. on September 6, 2019. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was personally present in Sriharikota to witness the event.”
The minister added: “A successor to Chandrayaan-2, Chandrayaan-3 has undergone some changes to increase the robustness of the lander. He said that all these modifications have been subjected to extensive ground tests and simulations through test stands.” .
“The Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover is also configured with payloads that would provide data to the scientific community on various properties of lunar soil and rocks, including their chemical and elemental composition,” Singh said in the statement.
