At the Kamakhya Temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, a “havan” (religious ritual) was performed for the accomplishment of India’s third lunar mission as the Chandrayaan-3 lander got closer to its destination.
According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the Chandrayaan-3 is set to land on the moon on August 23, around 18:04 hours IST.
Earlier, on Monday, ISRO chairman and secretary of the Department of Space, S Somanath called on Union Minister Jitendra Singh in the national capital, apprising him of the status and readiness of ‘Chandrayaan-3’ for the moon landing.
The ISRO chairman gave the minister an update on Chandrayaan-3’s condition and said that all systems were operating without a hitch and that there were no plans for contingencies for Wednesday, when the lunar landing was supposed to take place. The health of Chandrayaan-3 will be continuously monitored over the course of the following two days, he added, adding that the last landing sequence will be loaded and tested two days beforehand.
During the meeting, Union Minister Singh expressed confidence in ‘Chandrayaan-3’ making a soft landing this time, adding that he hoped that it would script a new history of planetary exploration under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Live actions will be available on the ISRO website, its YouTube channel, Facebook, and public broadcaster DD National TV from 17:27 IST on Aug 23, 2023.
While the ‘Chandrayaan-2’ mission was only “partially successful” since the lander lost contact after a hard landing, the ISRO successfully established two-way communication between the Chandrayaan-3 lander module and the still-orbiting Chandrayaan-2 orbiter. In a significant development, the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter which was already fixed around the moon established a two-way connection with the lander module of Chandrayaan-3 on Monday.
