THE ISRO on Monday released images of Lunar far side area captured by the Lander Hazard Detection and Avoidance Camera (LHDAC). This camera that assists in locating a safe landing area -- without boulders or deep trenches -- during the descent is developed by Ahmedabad-based Space Applications Centre (SAC), a major research and development centre of ISRO. According to the space agency, to achieve the mission objectives of Chandrayaan-3, several advanced technologies are present in the Lander such as LHDAC. Chandrayaan-3, launched on July 14, is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.

 

The ISRO said on Sunday that the Lander Module with rover in its belly is expected to touch down on the surface of the Moon around 6.04 PM on August 23. Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman S Somanath called on the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh in New Delhi and apprised him of the health status and readiness of Chandrayaan-3 for the moon landing. Somanath informed the Minister that all systems are working perfectly and no contingencies are anticipated on Wednesday, according to an official release. Russia’s Luna-25 crash will have no impact on Chandrayaan-3 mission: Indian space scientists: THE failure of Russia’s Luna-25 Moon mission will have no impact on ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 lunar venture, according to top Indian space scientists. The Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the Moon after it spun into an uncontrolled orbit, Russia’s Roscosmos space agency said on August 20. “It does not have any impact,” K Sivan, who was heading ISRO when the Chandrayaan-2 mission was launched in 2019, told PTI on Monday when asked if ISRO would be under additional pressure ahead of the soft landing, following the Russian setback.

 

Chandrayaan-3 mission’s lander module with a rover in its belly is expected to touch down on the surface of the Moon around 6.04 pm on Wednesday, ISRO had said on Sunday. “It (Chandrayaan-3 mission) is going on as per plan. It (soft landing) will be done accordingly, Sivan said. “We are hoping that this time (unlike Chandrayaan-2) it (the touchdown) will be successful”. Former ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair dismissed talk in some quarters that India and Russia were engaged in a race to the Moon, and termed the crash-landing of Luna-25 as unfortunate. “I know the (lander) module. It was ready way back in 2008. When I visited the lab (in Russia), they showed me the module. They didn’t have the resources to fly (then), so it had been kept in cold storage for a long time. Now only they had resources (to launch),” he told PTI.