India’s next moon mission, the Chandrayaan 3 is all set to be launched on Friday with the launch time set at 2.35 pm. The robotic Chandrayaan 3 mission aims to pull off India’s first ever moon landing and is scheduled to launch atop an LVM3 rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre today.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will be live streaming the launch for everyone to watch. The coverage is expected to start about an hour before the liftoff.
The Chandrayaan 3 consists of a lander and a rover, each carrying a handful of scientific instruments. If everything goes to plan, the duo is expected to touch down softly near the moon’s south pole in late August and study the surroundings for the about one lunar day or nearly 14 earth days.
India will be joining a very exclusive club with a successful touchdown as till date, only the United States, the Soviet Union and China have successfully landed a spacecraft on the moon.
It may be noted that India tried to do so once before on the Chandrayaan 2 mission in September 2019. However, the attempt ended with a crash into the lunar surface.
The Chandrayaan 2 was not a total failure as the mission also featured an orbiter, which arrived safely and it continues to study the moon even today. There is no lunar orbiter on the Chandrayaan 3.
The Chandrayaan 3 will be Friday’s second liftoff if everything goes according to the plans as SpaceX also aims to launch 54 of its Starlink internet satellites at 12.40 am EDT around 0440 GMT from Florida today. California-based company Rocket Lab is planning a launch of its own from New Zealand today afternoon.
