BENGALURU: Isro’s UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) director M Sankaran on Thursday said in Bengaluru that the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, which Isro is aiming to launch mid-July, has reached the spaceport in Sriharikota and that the space agency has taken all precautions to ensure that the mission is successful.
Speaking on the sidelines of an event here at the Visvesvaraya Industrial & Technical Museum, he said: “After the final assembly of payloads at URSC in Bengaluru, the spacecraft has reached Sriharikota and preparation is going … We do expect that sometime in July the launch can take place.”
The TOI had reported on May 18 that the final assembly of Chandrayaan-3 was under way and that the space agency was hoping for a mid-July launch.
While Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2, unlike its predecessor, which carried an orbiter along with a lander and rover, Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is a composite of three modules: Propulsion, lander and rover.
While the lander and rover will carry four and two payloads, respectively, the propulsion module, whose job as per initial project plan was to only carry the lander and rover to the lunar surface (until separation), will also have a payload called Spectro-polarimetry of HAbitable Planet Earth (SHAPE).
And, Isro has taken a cautious approach in realising Chandrayaan-3 in the backdrop of Chandrayaan-2’s failure to soft-land on Moon in September 2019.
Sankaran said Isri has examined various aspects of what happened to Chandrayaan-2 and all precautions have been taken to ensure Chandrayaan-3 is a success. “Every aspect of the mission has been looked at particularly from the experience that has happened during the Chandrayaan-2 and all possible precautions have been taken,” he said.
Pointing out that Chandrayaan-3 has been made more robust based on what happened during the previous landing attempt, he said every aspect of the mission has been strengthened. “During Chandrayaan-2 also, we were very hopeful that it would be successful but that is the nature of these missions. The gap between success and failure is so narrow and so thin,” he said, adding that the post-flight analysis of Chandrayaan-2 has given Isro a lot of insight.
Further, spelling out details about Gaganyaan, he said “something important connected to the mission” is expected to take place by the end of this year.
“As you know, Ganagayaan is an intense mission with a lot of new development and activities taking place. Many tests are happening which are not visible to the public but a lot of work is going on and we do expect that there will be something which will be visible to people during this year,” Sankaran said.
Speaking on the sidelines of an event here at the Visvesvaraya Industrial & Technical Museum, he said: “After the final assembly of payloads at URSC in Bengaluru, the spacecraft has reached Sriharikota and preparation is going … We do expect that sometime in July the launch can take place.”
The TOI had reported on May 18 that the final assembly of Chandrayaan-3 was under way and that the space agency was hoping for a mid-July launch.
While Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2, unlike its predecessor, which carried an orbiter along with a lander and rover, Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is a composite of three modules: Propulsion, lander and rover.
While the lander and rover will carry four and two payloads, respectively, the propulsion module, whose job as per initial project plan was to only carry the lander and rover to the lunar surface (until separation), will also have a payload called Spectro-polarimetry of HAbitable Planet Earth (SHAPE).
And, Isro has taken a cautious approach in realising Chandrayaan-3 in the backdrop of Chandrayaan-2’s failure to soft-land on Moon in September 2019.
Sankaran said Isri has examined various aspects of what happened to Chandrayaan-2 and all precautions have been taken to ensure Chandrayaan-3 is a success. “Every aspect of the mission has been looked at particularly from the experience that has happened during the Chandrayaan-2 and all possible precautions have been taken,” he said.
Pointing out that Chandrayaan-3 has been made more robust based on what happened during the previous landing attempt, he said every aspect of the mission has been strengthened. “During Chandrayaan-2 also, we were very hopeful that it would be successful but that is the nature of these missions. The gap between success and failure is so narrow and so thin,” he said, adding that the post-flight analysis of Chandrayaan-2 has given Isro a lot of insight.
Further, spelling out details about Gaganyaan, he said “something important connected to the mission” is expected to take place by the end of this year.
“As you know, Ganagayaan is an intense mission with a lot of new development and activities taking place. Many tests are happening which are not visible to the public but a lot of work is going on and we do expect that there will be something which will be visible to people during this year,” Sankaran said.