Chandrayaan-3 will be different from its predecessor as it will have a rover and a lander, but not an orbiter.
The ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) is also working hard to set up its first-ever human space mission – Gaganyaan.
Chandrayaan-3 will likely be launched in the first half of the next year, instead of the second half of this year, as suggested by the government.
Jitendra Singh, Union Minister, announced the news on Sunday, mentioning that India’s lunar mission won’t include an orbiter like past missions.
After the hard landing of Chandrayaan-2 in September 2019, the ISRO mentioned its plans for launching a new mission to Earth’s natural satellite by the end of 2020.
Unfortunately, the novel coronavirus pandemic delayed the launch of Chandrayaan-3.
Past Missions
Chandrayaan-2 was launched on July 22, 2019, and its target was the Moon’s South Pole.
The Vikram reached the lunar surface on September 7, but with a hard landing.
According to officials, the hard landing was a setback, but the orbiter works correctly and can send back data to Earth.
The Minister of State for Department of Space, Jitendra Singh, stated that Chandrayaan-1 returned some images suggesting that the Moon is rusting around its poles.
“The sign of this finding is that even though the surface of the Moon is known to have iron-rich rocks, it is not known for the presence of water and oxygen, which are the two elements needed to interact with iron to create rust,” stated Jitendra Singh.
Possible Meaning
The discovery might mean that our planet’s atmosphere could also be sheltering the Moon, as NASA scientists suggested.
“Thus, the Chandrayaan-1 Moon data indicates that the Moon’s poles are home to water, this is what the scientists are trying to decipher,” they added.
