Chandrayaan-3 sets off on a long journey to the Moon
Mission director S Mohana Kumar said the LVM3 rocket once again proved to be the most reliable heavy-lift vehicle of ISRO.
India’s third moon craft successfully blasted off on Friday afternoon from Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota spaceport, marking the first stage of a complicated 40-day mission that aims to vault the country into an elite club of nations that have successfully landed on the lunar surface.

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Built at a cost of nearly ₹600 crore by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), Chandrayaan 3 was launched at 2.35pm from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre using a Launch Vehicle Mark-3, formerly known as the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk-III. The craft carried a rover (Pragyan) and a lander (Vikram) that will aim to become the first to land on the south pole of the moon, which has generated tremendous scientific interest in recent years due to the presence of water ice.
“We are expecting it (Chandrayaan-3) to enter into lunar orbit by August 1 and two-three weeks from then, separation of the propulsion module and lander module will happen on August 17. The final descent is currently planned for August 23, at 5.47pm. That is the plan if it goes as per the schedule,” said Isro chief S Somanath.
Scientists inside the mission control centre (MCC) waited with bated breath to see Chandrayaan-3 separate from the rocket about 16 minutes after lift-off even as thousands of spectators broke into loud cheers as the rocket lifted off in plumes of golden and white smoke.
If Chandrayaan-3 lands on the moon — something its predecessor was unable to do when it veered off course in the final moments before the descent on September 6, 2019, and crashed on the lunar surface — it will make India only the fourth country (after the United States, the erstwhile Soviet Union, and China) to achieve a soft landing.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the launch of the mission as a “new chapter” in the country’s space odyssey. “It soars high, elevating the dreams and ambitions of every Indian. This momentous achievement is a testament to our scientists’ relentless dedication. I salute their spirit and ingenuity!” he tweeted.
President Droupadi Murmu congratulated Isro, for which the launch marked yet another triumph of frugal science, a reference to the fact that the agency’s missions are funded at a fraction of the cost of western nations.
“Heartiest congratulations to the Isro team and everyone who worked relentlessly to accomplish the feat! It demonstrates the nation’s unwavering commitment to advancement in space science and technology,” she said.
The spacecraft comprises a lander and rover, which will be carried by a propulsion module till 100km lunar orbit. The scientific equipment on the craft consists of three payloads on Vikram and two on Pragyan. One will measure moonquakes, another the plasma distribution, and a third the temperature distribution in the first 10-cm beneath the lunar surface. Two experiments on the rover will determine the elemental and chemical composition of the lunar surface.
Mission director S Mohana Kumar said the LVM3 rocket once again proved to be the most reliable heavy-lift vehicle of Isro. “Today’s mission was a penance of many across Isro,” he added.
Project director P Veeramuthuvel said all the spacecraft health parameters, including power generation in propulsion module and lander module, were normal.
“...This is a moment of glory for us, a moment of glory for India and a moment of destiny for all of us... I must thank team Isro for making India proud...,” Union minister of state Jitendra Singh said.
Chandrayaan-3 aims to achieve three objectives — to demonstrate safe and soft landing on the moon surface which could not be achieved by Chandrayaan-2; demonstrate rover abilities on the moon surface; and conduct in-situ scientific experiments. If successful, it could pave the way for Isro to take on more challenging missions, including a planned one to the sun and another to send a human being into space.
Scientists explained that the 2019 mission fell at the final hurdle but managed to successfully place its orbiter around the moon, and this provided invaluable information. Somanath said that it was on the basis of the data and pictures from the orbiter that Isro were able to take corrective steps for the make and landing strategies for Chandrayaan-3 .
Senior officials from the department of space explained that Chandrayaan-3 consists of an indigenous lander module (LM), propulsion module (PM), and a rover, with an objective of developing and demonstrating new technologies required for interplanetary missions. The lander will have the capability to soft land at a specified lunar site and deploy the rover, which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility.
“The lander and the rover have scientific payloads to carry out experiments on the lunar surface. The main function of PM is to carry the LM from launch vehicle injection till final lunar 100 km circular polar orbit and separate the LM from PM. Apart from this, the propulsion module also has one scientific payload as a value addition which will be operated post separation of the lander module,” the Chandrayaan 3 mission module read.
After entering the orbit of the moon, Chandrayaan-3 is expected to reach the lunar orbit, nearly a month after its launch, and its lander and rover are expected to land on the moon on August 23.
The landing site for the mission is near the south pole of the moon (around 300km from the pole) at 70 degrees latitude.
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“We are aiming for all the geophysical, chemical characteristics on the surface of the moon. Second, study of the south pole has still not been explored. Nobody has conducted the thermal characteristics on the surface of the moon which Isro would be doing in this mission,” Somanath said.
Before this, all the lunar missions have only managed to make a landing in the equatorial region of the moon — a few degrees north or south of the lunar equator. Only the Surveyor-7, launched by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1968 managed to land near 40 degrees south latitude, which is the furthest that any spacecraft has landed from the equator.
Soft landings occur when the craft touches down at a safe, slow and controlled speed. Soft landings are particularly necessary on crewed missions or missions in which the craft is expected to take scientific measurements or perform tests after landing, as is the case with the Chandrayaan 3 mission.
Congratulatory messages poured in from across the globe.
“This is a great milestone that India has achieved today. I congratulate the Indian government, the space agency Isro, and the people of India for the successful launch,” said Gennady Krasnikov, president of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Senator Bill Nelson, Administrator of the US’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) also congratulated Isro on the launch of Chandrayaan-3.
He tweeted, “Congratulations to ISRO on the Chandrayaan-3 launch, wishing you safe travels to the Moon. We look forward to the scientific results to come from the mission, including NASA’s laser retroreflector array. India is demonstrating leadership on #ArtemisAccords!”