Chandrayaan-3 landing on moon expected on Aug 23 if everything goes normal: ISRO chief

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday congratulated the team of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) after India’s 'Bahubali' rocket successfully put the moon spacecraft – Chandrayaan-3- into orbit on Friday afternoon in a copybook style. The country's heavy rocket slung the 3.8 tonne Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft into its intended Earth orbit. The rocket is nicknamed as 'Bahubali' as like the hero in the super-hit film, lifts a heavy Lingam, the rocket carried the 3.8-tonne Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft.  Kharge, taking to Twitter, said: "Our collective happiness is Over the Moon. Thanks to the tremendous ingenuity, dedication, skill and hard work of our scientists, engineers and everyone involved in the successful launch of Chandrayaan3 Mission. We are extremely proud of each one of you for this remarkable achievement. On behalf of the Congress party, we express our sincere gratitude to the extraordinary team at ISRO. "India's lunar missions began with Chandrayaan-1 in 2008, which confirmed the presence of water molecules on the moon. This was a historic feat by our country. Chandrayaan-2 also detected the presence of chromium, manganese and sodium for the first time through remote sensing. The perseverance of our scientists did not go in vain. Today, Chandrayaan-3 is a testimony to the vision, foresight, determination and accomplishment of all our previous Prime Ministers including Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, PV Narasimha Rao, Rajiv Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh," he added. 

BJP leaders, including Union ministers, on Friday hailed the successful launch of Chandrayaan-3 with party president JP Nadda calling it "historic" and a testament to the ingenuity and perseverance of the country's scientists. India launched its ambitious third lunar mission Chandrayaan-3, eyeing a rare feat in moon exploration so far only accomplished by the likes of the US, China and the former Soviet Union. The Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) third lunar expedition in 15 years, the hugely anticipated Chandrayaan-3 embarked on its month-long journey towards the moon, piggybacking on ISRO's latest heavy lift launch vehicle, 'Fat boy' LVM3-M4 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Congratulating ISRO, Nadda tweeted, "Chandrayaan-3 is today embarking on a journey that carries the hopes of 1.4 billion Indians."

The Chandrayaan-3 that aims for a soft landing on the moon's surface, paving the way for future interplanetary missions, carries six payloads that would help ISRO understand the lunar soil and also get the blue planet's photographs from the lunar orbit. The payloads, which include RAMBHA and ILSA, would perform a series of path-breaking experiments during the 14-day mission. They would study the moon's atmosphere and dig the surface to understand its mineral composition. Lunar lander Vikram will click photos of the rover Pragyaan as it studies the seismic activity on the moon by dropping some instruments. Using laser beams, it would try to melt a piece of the lunar surface -- the regolith -- to study the gases emitted during the process.

India's third moon mission Chandrayaan-3 will attempt the technically challenging soft landing on the lunar surface on August 23, ISRO Chairman S Somanath said on Friday. Addressing reporters after the successful launch of the estimated Rs 600 crore mission, Somanath said the craft's insertion into the lunar orbit has been planned from August 1. The soft landing was planned at 5.47 pm on August 23, more than a month after Chandrayaan 3 took off from the spaceport here piggybacking on the heavylift LVM3-M4 rocket, he added. Elaborating, Somanath said the rocket, following Friday's launch would be proceeding towards the lunar orbit in elliptical orbits.
 

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for the successful launch of the third lunar mission, 'Chandrayaan-3' and termed it as 'historic triumph' for the nation. It is the "proudest moment" for all people in the country and the mission will bring in groundbreaking results in space research, he said in a tweet. "Proudest moment for all Indians as our third lunar mission #Chandrayaan3 has been launched by @isro . Congratulations to all behind its successful launch. It is a historic triumph for our nation as the mission will bring in groundbreaking results in space research," Vijayan tweeted.

The Indian Space Research Organisation has taken corrective measures after the failed bid to soft-land on the Moon nearly four years ago, and is expecting successful touch down on the lunar surface with its Chandrayaan-3 mission but it's going to be a challenging job, its former Chairman K Sivan said on Friday. "This is a very important launch, and we have done it successfully," he told PTI after the launch of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, and noted that expectations in India from the ambitious venture are very high.

India on Friday launched its ambitious third lunar mission Chandrayaan 3, eyeing a rare feat in moon exploration so far only accomplished by the likes of the US, China and the former Soviet Union. The space agency said the technically challenging soft landing on lunar surface, which Chandrayaan 2 could not achieve, has been planned for 5.47 pm on August 23. Indian Space Research Organisation's third lunar expedition in 15 years, the hugely anticipated Chandrayaan 3 embarked on its month-long journey towards the moon, piggybacking on ISRO's latest heavy lift launch vehicle, 'Fat boy' LVM3-M4 from the spaceport here. The mission cost was around an estimated Rs 600 crore, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said. Chandrayaan 2 could not achieve the soft landing when communication with the Lander 'Vikram' was lost.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said the successful launch of the Chandrayaan-3 mission is a proud moment for India and would inspire young minds to take up research in science and technology. He congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation, the national space agency headquartered here, for the successful launch. "It is a proud moment for India and a new milestone in India's space research and innovation", the chief minister said. This achievement will inspire young minds of India to take up research in science and technology, Siddaramaiah added.

The launch vehicle LVM3 M4  successfully launched Chandrayaan-3 into orbit, said ISRO. Notably, Moon serves as a repository of the Earth’s past and a successful lunar mission by India will help enhance life on Earth while also enabling it explore the rest of the solar system and beyond.

The launch of the mission was cheered by thousands of spectators who had converged to witness the historic moment. Upon landing, it will operate for one lunar day, which is approximately 14 Earth days. One day on the Moon is equal to 14 days on Earth.

Chandrayaan-3 mission aims to reach the moon in 40 days. It is expected to land on the moon on August 23. 

The country's third moon mission Chandrayaan-3 has been successfully launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre. It is equipped with a lander, a rover and a propulsion module. It weighs around 3,900 kilograms. Today's lunar expedition follows the 2019 Chandrayaan-2 mission where space scientists are aiming for a soft landing on the surface of the moon.

Union Minister of State Science & Technology Dr Jitendra Singh reached Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota as Chandrayaan-3 moon mission countdown continues. 

ISRO Chairman S Somnath reached the mission control centre ahead of the launch. The lift-off is set to take place at 2:35 pm. 

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy wished the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) a a successful launch for the Chandrayaan-3 mission. He highlighted that the mission is being launched from Sriharikota, which is located in the southern state. "My best wishes to the entire team at ISRO on the scheduled launch of Chandraayan-3 from Sriharikota in our very own Andhra Pradesh today," Reddy said in a tweet. ISRO's Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), SHAR is located at Sriharikota in Tirupati district.

Hours ahead of the launch, former ISRO Chairman Madhavan Nair said that everything humanly possible for the mission has been done. "I don’t see any reason why Mission Chandrayaan-3 should fail," he added.  

Ahead of the launch, Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his best wishes for the Chandrayaan-3 mission. "I urge you all to know more about this Mission and the strides we have made in space, science and innovation. It will make you all very proud," he said. The PM further said that the key scientific outcomes from Chandrayaan 2 include the first-ever global map for lunar sodium, enhancing knowledge on crater size distribution, unambiguous detection of lunar surface water ice with IIRS instrument and more. This Mission has been featured in almost 50 publications, he added. The PM went on to say that his remarkable mission will carry the hopes and dreams of our nation. "14th July 2023 will always be etched in golden letters as far as India’s space sector is concerned. Chandrayaan-3, our third lunar mission, will embark on its journey," the PM remarked. 

According to ISRO, The propellant filling in the L110 stage of LVM3, which will carry Chandrayaan-3 to space, has been completed. Meanwhile, the propellant filling in the C25 stage is underway.

The journey from Earth to the moon for the spacecraft is estimated to take about a month and the landing is expected on August 23. Upon landing, it will operate for one lunar day, which is approximately 14 Earth days. One day on the Moon is equal to 14 days on Earth.

The GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle, which will release the moon lander and rover into space, will lift off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota. The ‘Launch Rehearsal’ simulating the entire launch preparation and process was concluded earlier by the ISRO. 

According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Chandrayaan-3 is equipped with a lander, a rover and a propulsion module. It weighs around 3,900 kilograms. It also carries a payload to "look at Earth from Moon to study its habitable planet-like features and use this information to explore exoplanets in future." 

With today's event, India aims to become the fourth country to successfully achieve a soft landing on the moon. The United States, China, the Soviet Union and Israel are other countries that attempted a soft landing on the moon. Except for Israel, all three were successful in making a soft landing on the lunar surface. 

According to ISRO, the three mission objectives of the Chandrayaan-3 are- to demonstrate safe and soft landing on lunar Surface; to demonstrate Rover roving on the moon and to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.