ISRO releases images of Chandrayaan-3 lander ahead of July launch

According to ISRO, the mission objectives of Chandrayaan-3, are to demonstrate safe and soft landings on the lunar surface, to demonstrate rover roving on the moon, and to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.

Along with the preparation for the launch, the tests on the spacecraft have been planned and carried out successfully, which were the integrated cold tests done for the demonstration of integrated sensors and navigation performance tests. Another one was the Integrated Hot Test, which was meant for the demonstration of closed-loop performance testing with sensors, actuators, and NGC using a tower crane.

On July 15, 2019, the Chandrayaan-2 satellite was scheduled for lift-off at 2:51 am. Due to some technical issues before an hour of launch, the take-off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh was deferred. Later, the take-off was rescheduled for Monday, July 22, 2019, at 1443 hrs.

Before that, Chandrayaan-1 was India’s first foray into the surface of the moon. It landed in October 2008; the lunar orbiter is best remembered for spotting water molecules on the moon. It was supposed to be in space for two years. However, due to unfortunate reasons, ISRO lost contact with Chandrayaan-1 after 10 months into the mission.