Countdown for Chandrayaan-3 launch from Sriharikota will begin on July 13 afternoon

ISRO to launch Chandrayaan-3 on Jan 22; 26-hr countdown begins. Mission to deploy rover to carry out in-situ chemical analysis of lunar surface. Launch to take place at 2.35 pm on Jan 22; landing scheduled for Aug 23-24. ISRO officials seek blessings of deity ahead of launch.

The countdown for the launch of Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar exploration mission will begin on Thursday afternoon .Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will commence the 26-hour count down at 1.05 pm at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

The space agency will launch Chandrayaan-3 by LVM3 rocket at 2.35 pm on Friday. Updating on the mission, ISRO said that the propellant filling is in progress. The Mission Readiness Review for the launch has already been completed and the board has authorised the launch.

Also read: ISRO’s Chandrayaan 3 mission | When did it start and when will it end? 

The Chandrayaan-3 which will be India’s third lunar mission consists of an indigenous lander module (LM), propulsion module (PM), and a rover with an objective of developing and demonstrating new technologies required for inter-planetary missions.

According to ISRO, the lander has the capability to soft land at a specified lunar site, and deploy the rover, which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility. The Lander and the Rover have scientific payloads to carry out experiments on the lunar surface.

ISRO Chairman S. Somnath last week said that the Chandrayaan-3’s landing on the is scheduled for August 23-24. “If the launch takes place on that day then we will be ready for landing on the moon possibly by the last week of August. The date (landing date) is decided when there is sunrise on the moon. When we are landing, sunlight must be there. So the landing will be on August 23 or 24,” Mr Somnath said.

ISRO officials visited Lord Venkateswaran temple in Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh, ahead of the launch on Thursday, July 13, 2023. Officials carried with a miniature model of the rocket and spacecraft and sought blessings. It is an old ISRO tradition to seek the blessings of the deity ahead of satellite launches in Sriharikota.