ISRO gears up for third lunar mission as India eyes to achieve rare feat

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

moon in its third expedition on Friday in an attempt to put the country in an elite club of nations that accomplished lunar missions with a soft landing. 'Fat boy' LVM3-M4 rocket will carry Chandrayaan-3 as part of the country's ambitious moon mission as the Indian Space Research Organisation is gearing up for the hugely anticipated launch from this spaceport on July 14. The soft landing on moon's surface is planned for late August.

Chandrayaan-2 failed to achieve the desired soft landing on the moon surface in 2019, leaving the ISRO team dejected. Images of an emotional then ISRO chief K Sivan being consoled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was here to achieve the rare feat, remains vivid in the memory of many. Scientists at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here, after investing many hours of hardwork, now aim at mastering the technology of soft-landing on the surface of the moon.

A success would make India only the fourth country to achieve the feat after the United States, China and the former Soviet Union. Chandrayaan-3, is the third lunar exploration mission ready for take off in the fourth operational mission (M4) of LVM3 launcher. ISRO is crossing new frontiers by demonstrating soft-landing on the lunar surface by its lunar module and demonstrating roving on the lunar terrain, the space agency said.

The mission is expected to be supportive to future interplanetary missions. Chandrayaan-3 mission consists of an indigenous propulsion module, lander module and a rover with an objective of developing and demonstrating new technologies required for inter-planetary missions. With the 43.5 metre tall rocket, scheduled for the lift off from the second launch pad at pre-fixed time at 2.35 pm on July 14, the countdown for