While Russia is delaying the Luna-25 probe, and the United States still cannot create a game mission Artemis 1, India is already exploring a third lunar mission
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will send the third national robotic expedition Chandrayaan-3 to the Moon in 2023. This was reported to journalists by the head of ISRO Sridhara Paniker Somanath.
““Chandrayan-3” is almost ready. Final assembly and testing is almost complete. However, a few more tests are expected, so we want to do it [отправить экспедицию] a little bit later”, – Somanath said. “We want to get June [2023 года] for start”, he added.
As previously reported by the Indian Space Agency, the third mission to the Earth’s satellite provides for the landing of a lunar rover on its surface. It was originally scheduled for 2021, but it was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The first Indian lunar automatic station, Chandrayaan-1, was launched into Earth satellite orbit in November 2008. The device worked until August 2009. The second Indian lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2, was sent to the Moon on July 22, 2019. She planned not only launching into orbit, but also a soft landing of the Vikram controlled module, which was supposed to deliver the small Pragyan lunar rover to the surface of the earth’s satellite.
However, on September 7 of the same year, when Vikram reached a height of 2.1 km above the lunar surface, communication with it was lost, and the lander crashed upon impact with the lunar surface. At this orbital station “Chandrayan-2” work continues in the orbit of the Moon. Now India wants to put a new lunar rover on the surface of the Earth’s satellite.