The Launch Vehicle Mark - III (LVM3) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), carrying the Chandrayaan 3 spacecraft lifted off from Sriharikota on July 14 at 2.35 pm, making it the third time that India set course for the Moon.
Fifteen minutes post-launch, the Chandrayaan 3 spacecraft successfully separated from the LVM3 launch vehicle in an orbit near the Earth and commenced its long way towards the Moon. According to ISRO, the Rs 615 crore spacecraft, comprising of a lander and rover is expected to make a soft landing on the Moon either on August 23 or August 24.
If the landing is successful, it will make India the fourth nation after the US, the Soviet Union and China to achieve a soft landing on the Moon.
Additionally, it is expected that the Chandrayaan 3 lander and rover will land somewhere near the South Pole area of the Moon, which no country has done till now.
Following its soft landing at a specified lunar site, the lander will deploy the rover, which will carry out a chemical analysis of the lunar surface.
The mission is a follow-up to the Chandrayaan-2 launch of 2019 which, despite providing valuable data and insights about the Moon, failed its main objective of landing on the lunar surface.
The 2008 Chandrayaan-1 mission was immensely successful and it had documented evidence of water molecules on the Moon.
This is important because Chandrayaan-2's objective included conducting further studies on the water molecules discovered by Chandrayaan-1 on the Moon's surface.
"There could be a possibility of the presence of water in permanently shadowed areas around the lunar South Pole," added ISRO. It is expected that the Chandrayaan 3 too will be taking up similar studies and experiments on the lunar surface.