The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will target the launch of its third lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3, for August this year, as per the Union Minister of State for the Department of Space Dr Jitendra Singh.
“Based on the learnings from Chandrayaan-2 and suggestions made by the national level experts, the realisation of Chandrayaan-3 is in progress. Many related hardware and their special tests are successfully completed. The launch is scheduled for August 2022,” Singh said in the reply read.
When asked the reason behind the continuous delay of the mission, Minister of Science & Technology Dr. Jitendra Singh said that several ongoing missions were impacted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “Reprioritisation of projects has taken place in the backdrop of space sector reforms and newly introduced demand-driven models,” the minister said in his response.
To make up for the delays, the space agency is likely to have a busy year ahead, beginning with the pending launches from February onwards. “Several ongoing missions were impacted due to the coronavirus pandemic. Also, reprioritisation of projects has taken place in the backdrop of Space Sector reforms and newly introduced demand-driven models,” the minister’s reply in the Lok Sabha said.
The third moon mission comes two years after the Chandrayaan-2 crash-landed on the far side of the Moon.
