Covid hit: Chandrayaan-3 launch delayed further to 2022

New Delhi: Covid-19 has strike various projects of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) which includes Chandrayaan-3. It was set to be launched in late 2020. Gaganyaan, India’s first manned space mission will not be having an orbiter.

“We are working on it. It is the same configuration like Chandrayaan-2 but it will not have an orbiter. The orbiter launched during Chandrayaan-2 will be used for Chandrayaan-3. With that, we are working on a system and mostly the launch will be next year in 2022,” Mr. Sivan stated.

Chandrayan-2’s aim was to land a rover on Lunar South Pole. It was launched on July 22, 2019, with the country’s most powerful geosynchronous launch vehicle.

On September 7, 2019, the Chandyaan-2 hard landed on the lunar surface, demolishing India’s dream to become the first nation to successfully land on the lunar surface.

Chandrayaan-3 will be an important launch for ISRO as it will display India’s capabilities for further interplanetary missions.

ISRO aims to launch its first unmanned mission in December, under the Gaganyaan project. The launch was scheduled for December last year.

The third leg is presumed to be the main module, followed by the previous unmanned mission.

It is expected that Gaganyaan will be sending three Indians to space by 2022. Four test pilots who are selected for the mission are currently going through training in Russia.

“A lot of technology needs to be demonstrated. We will decide on the time (of the manned mission) after checking whether all the technology is perfect,” Mr. Sivan stated when he was asked about the launch of Gaganyaan.