ISRO’s moon missions to stay on course till this one big objective is achieved

ISRO will keep its moon missions going to ensure it achieves one big objective.

In a big revelation, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chief S Somanath revealed how long India’s moon missions will continue. He said that the space agency will keep at it till one thing happens - an Indian lands on the lunar surface.

ISRO is all set to continue powering its Moon missions with one great objective in mind - landing an Indian on the lunar surface.(REUTERS)

India’s moon mission is fully focused on getting an Indian to land on the moon and till then all the relevant data and technological refinements will be carried out. While Chandrayaan-3 was a big step forward and a total success, the next objective is to get Chandrayaan-4 into space on schedule. “Chandrayaan 3 has done very well. Data has been collected and scientific publication has just started,” this was revealed by ISRO Chairman S Somanath on Wednesday.

Among the notable achievements so far have been that India has become the first country to land a spacecraft on the south pole of the Moon during the Chandrayaan-3 mission.

“Now, we want to continue the Chandrayaan series till an Indian lands on the Moon. Before that, we have to master many technologies, such as going there and coming back. That we are trying to do in the next mission,” Somanath told reporters at an event in Ahmedabad organised by the Astronautical Society of India.

Gaganyaan mission

While the Moon has been taking up a lot of the time and attention of ISRO, other projects too are continuing apace. In this regard, Gaganyaan, India’s first-ever human space flight mission, will see ISRO carry out an uncrewed mission, a test vehicle flight mission and an airdrop test this year, Somanath said.

“The airdrop test will happen on April 24. Then two more uncrewed missions will happen next year and then the manned mission, if everything goes well, by the end of next year,” he added.

The Gaganyaan project will launch a crew of 3 members to an orbit of 400 km for a 3-day mission and bringing them back safely to Earth. The landing will be in the sea.

C-C Nozzle

Somanath also spent some time explaining an amazing new part developed by ISRO called Carbon-Carbon (C-C) nozzle for the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle or PSLV rocket engines. The nozzle is expected to enhance the vital parameters of rocket engines, including thrust levels, specific impulse, and thrust-to-weight ratios and thereby improve payload capacity.

“It gives us a weight advantage in comparison to metal and it also allows us to operate at higher temperatures. Reduction in weight improves the efficiency of engine and payload capacity,” Somanath explained.