Chairman, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) and Secretary, Department of Space, Dr S. Somnath called on the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh in New Delhi today and apprised him of the status and readiness of Chandrayaan-3 for the moon landing scheduled on 23^rd August 2023 in the evening.

Chairman ISRO briefed the Minister on the health status of Chandrayaan-3 and said that all systems are working perfectly and no contingencies are anticipated on Wednesday. In the next two days, the health of Chandrayaan-3 will be continuously monitored. The final sequence of landing will be loaded two days ahead and tested out, he said.

Dr Jitendra Singh expressed his confidence in Chandrayaan-3 making a soft landing this time and hoped that it will script a new history of planetary exploration under the guidance of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

ISRO said the Chandrayaan-3 is set to land on the moon on August 23, 2023, around 18:04 hours IST. 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. Earlier today, the ISRO shared new images of the Lunar far side area captured by the Chandrayaan-3.

India will be the fourth country in the world to achieve this feat after the United States, Russia, and China, but India will be the only country in the world to land on the lunar South Pole.

The primary objectives of Chandrayaan-3 mission are threefold, (a) to demonstrate Safe and Soft Landing on Lunar Surface; (b) to demonstrate Rover roving on the moon, and (c) to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.

Dr Jitendra Singh recalled that the first in the series of Chandrayaan, namely Chandrayaan-1, is credited for having discovered the presence of water on the surface of the Moon, which was a new revelation for the world and even the most premier Space agencies like the USA’s NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) were fascinated by this discovery and used the inputs for their further experiments.

Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on 14 July 2023 via the GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota at 2:35 PM.

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