Chandrayaan-3: 2nd bid to land on Moon by next Nov

Bengaluru, November 14

After an unsuccessful bid two months ago, India may attempt another soft landing on the Moon by next year-end, probably in November, sources in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Thursday.

The organisation had constituted a high-level committee, headed by S Somanath, Director of Thiruvanathapuram-based Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, the lead centre responsible for all launch vehicle programmes of ISRO, to prepare a report on the proposed Chandrayaan-3.

“The report is awaited. The committee has been given guidelines to prepare the mission before the end of next year,” said a senior ISRO official. “There is a good launch window in November,” he said.

“Rover, lander and landing operations will get more focus this time and whatever deficiencies there were in the Chandrayaan-2 mission will be corrected,” sources in ISRO said.

On September 7, ISRO attempted a soft landing of Chandrayaan-2’s ‘Vikram’ on the lunar south pole, before losing communication with the lander. A national-level committee has analysed the cause of communication loss with the lander. — PTI