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What does a Chandrayaan-3 mission mean for India’s space sector and can landing be postponed?

The third Moon mission of India, Chandryaan-3 was launched on July 14 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDCC) of…

What does a Chandrayaan-3 mission mean for India’s space sector and can landing be postponed?

Image Source: ISRO

The third Moon mission of India, Chandryaan-3 was launched on July 14 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDCC) of the Indian Space Research Organisation in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

The project is expected to make a soft landing on the moon on August 23. Should all proceed as planned, the mission will represent a huge achievement for India’s space programme.

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The Vikram lander is scheduled to make a lunar landing attempt on August 23 shortly after 6 pm according to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

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If India is successful, it would join the United States, Russia, and China as the only four nations to accomplish a soft landing on the moon, and it will become a space power.

India now has the chance to become the first nation to accomplish a soft landing on the Moon’s south pole, which is the proposed landing site for Chandrayaan-3, following the recent failure of Russia’s Luna-25 mission.

Along with encouraging investment in private space launches and associated satellite-based enterprises, the mission would also support the Center’s agenda.

It would support India’s goal of having its commercial space enterprises capture a fivefold larger portion of the global launch industry in the next ten years.

Prior to the moon mission’s launch, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that ISRO was advancing “the dreams and ambitions of every Indian” and creating “a new chapter in India’s space odyssey.”

Two days before the soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar surface, a senior ISRO official stated that the space agency would only proceed with the landing if the weather on that day is “favourable”. Otherwise, on August 27, a fresh attempt will be made.

Attempts will be made to determine whether or not it will be appropriate to land Chandrayaan-3 at that time, two hours prior to its scheduled landing, based on the lander module’s condition and the lunar environment. We will land the module on the moon on August 27 if any circumstances don’t seem favourable, according to ISRO’s space applications centre director Nilesh M. Desai.

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