Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K Sivan while addressing a press conference on Wednesday said that the government has approved the third phase of India’s Mission to the moon.
K Sivan said that the ISRO will attempt to launch Chandrayaan 3 by 2021. Besides this, K Sivan also said that ISRO has as many as 25 space missions lined up for 2020.
“2020 will be the year of Chandrayaan-3 and Gaganyaan. The missions that were planned in 2019 and couldn’t be completed would be finished by March this year,” K Sivan said.
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India’s 3rd mission to the moon will cost more than Rs. 600 crore, which has been approved by the centre. While the launch service will require Rs. 365 crore, the lander, rover and propulsion module will cost the Rs. 250 crore.
To recall, Chandrayaan 2 had failed to soft-land on the moon on September 6 after ISRO lost contact with its lander Vikram. The lander had carried a rover within, which would have been used to trace the moon’s far side, had the lander not crash-landed on the far side of the moon.
Despite failing to soft-land on the moon, ISRO had successfully put Chandrayaan 2 lunar orbiter in the moon’s vicinity. The orbiter, with a life of 7 years, will continue to study the celestial body from afar.
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“We have made good progress on Chandrayaan 2. Even though we could not land successfully, the orbiter is still functioning. It’s going to function for the next seven years to produce science data,” Mr Sivan said.
