Chandrayaan-3 off to magnificent heights

Sriharikota: With its eyes set on becoming a major space power, India on Friday successfully launched its third moon mission, this time a far more complicated 41-day voyage to reach the lunar south pole where no other nation has gone before.

If the estimated Rs 600 crore Chandrayaan-3 mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) succeeds in landing a robotic lunar rover in the space agency's second attempt in four years, India will become the fourth country to master the technology of soft-landing on the moon's surface after the US, China and the former Soviet Union.

Addressing a news conference shortly after the launch of the unmanned mission to a lunar region that is emerging as a potential site for future human exploration, a jubilant ISRO Chairman S Somanath said the agency has planned for the "technically challenging" softlanding on the moon on August 23.

"We are expecting it(Chandrayaan-3) to enter into lunar orbit by August 1 and two-three weeks from then, separation of propulsion module and lander module will happen on August 17. The final descent is currently planned for August 23, at 5.47 pm IST. That is the plan if it goes as per the schedule," he said.

Chandrayaan-2 had failed in its lunar phase when its lander 'Vikram' crashed into the surface of the moon following anomalies in the braking system in the lander while attempting a soft landing on September 7, 2019.

Chandrayaan's maiden mission was in 2008. As the 25 hours 30 minute countdown of the mission for studying surface and chemical properties of the moon ended, the latest LVM3-M4 rocket (formerly GSLVMkIII), dubbed as 'Fat boy' and 'Bahubali' for its heavylift capability, soared majestically into the sky from the second launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh at the prefixed time of 2.35 pm leaving a trail of thick orange smoke.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the launch of the mission as a "new chapter" in the country's space odyssey which has elevated the dreams and ambitions of every Indian.

Political leaders cutting across party lines also lauded ISRO's feat. scientists inside the Mission Control Centre (MCC) at the spaceport waited with bated breath to see Chandrayaan-3 getting separated from the rocket about 16 minutes after lift-off.