In a written answer in the Parliament, Dr Jitendra Singh, minister of state for department of space, said, “Chandrayaan-3 is likely to be launched during the third quarter of 2022 assuming normal work-flow henceforth.”
The mission, which was supposed to launch in late 2020 or early 2021, was severely hampered by the pandemic, which caused delays in the construction of the modules.
The answer given by minister in Lok Sabha read, “The realisation of Chandrayaan-3 involves various processes, including finalisation of configuration, subsystem realisation (manufacturing), integration, spacecraft-level detailed testing and a number of special tests to evaluate the systems performance on Earth. The realisation process was hampered due to COVID-19 pandemic.”
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“However, all works that were possible in work from home mode were taken up even during lockdown periods. Chandrayaan-3 realization resumed after commencement of unlock period and is in matured stage of realization,” read the reply.
Chandrayaan-3 was planned to demonstrate India’s capability of soft landing on a celestial body, with the rover then communicating with Earth via the existing orbiter from Chandrayaan-2. The orbiter has an estimated lifespan of seven years.
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The third mission was announced months after the Vikram lander aboard Chandrayaan-2 crash-landed on the lunar surface just 2.1 km from its destination in September 2019. Chandrayaan- 3 was initially scheduled for late 2020 or early 2021, but the disruption caused by the pandemic affected the schedule.
The COVID-19 lockdown has hit several projects of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), including Gaganyaan, the country’s first manned space mission.
(With inputs from ANI)
