The Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover will continue to go by their Chandrayaan-2 titles, according to Dr. S. Somnath, Chairman of ISRO. According to this, the Lunar Lander will be called “Vikram” in honour of Dr. Vikram A. Sarabhai, the man responsible for the Indian space programme.

The Indian Space Agency, ISRO, released images of Chandrayaan-3, its third lunar spacecraft, which has now been coupled with the payload adapter, indicating steady development towards a mid-July launch. The payload adapter is a piece of equipment that joins the satellite (payload) to the rocket’s upper stage. A satellite is piled onto the launch vehicle after being attached to the payload dispenser and enclosed in the payload fairing (the rocket’s nose cone).

The Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover will continue to go by their Chandrayaan-2 titles, according to Dr. S. Somanath, Chairman of ISRO. According to this, the Lunar Lander will be called “Vikram” in honour of Dr. Vikram A. Sarabhai, the man responsible for the Indian space programme. The name of the rover will be “Pragyan,” which is Sanskrit for “wisdom.” Dr. Somnath stated that after being launched in the middle of July, the spacecraft would land on the moon by the end of August.

Following Chandrayaan-2’s failure to successfully accomplish a lunar soft landing, India is currently attempting its third lunar mission and second lunar landing attempt. ISRO lost touch with the then-‘Vikram’ lunar lander as it was approaching a vertical landing, just two kilometres above the lunar surface.

The lunar landing mission was not completed because the lander failed to survive its harsh landing on the lunar surface. However, Chandrayaan-2’s orbiter is still circling the moon and transmitting science data from its payloads. As a result, Chandrayaan-3 won’t have an orbiter with numerous science packages attached on it. As a propulsion unit, it will assist the combined spacecraft in getting to the lunar orbit.

The Chandrayaan-3 orbiter is lighter than the one it replaced. However, the Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander now has the reduced payload mass from the orbiter. This time, ISRO has improved the lander’s durability, added extra fuel that may be utilised for manoeuvring, increased the research payloads, and increased the size of the solar panels for greater power generation.

The additional mass on the lunar lander consists of more fuel, higher ruggedness, measures for failure tolerance, reinforcement of the landing legs, expanded scientific payloads, and larger solar panels for improved power generation, according to Dr. S. Somanath, Chairman of ISRO. In response to a query about whether the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft would weigh less than its predecessor (which weighed around 3.6 tonnes or 3,600 kgs), he stated that it would.

Earlier, the ISRO Chairman had stated that the LVM-3 rocket’s Chandrayaan-3 launch window will be between July 12 through July 19. Any day inside the launch window would be picked based on a variety of considerations as it is the optimal time for a launch mission.

The launch timing is calculated precisely down to the minute because the Indian lunar spacecraft would need about six weeks to travel the 3,84,000 kilometres (3,84,000 mi) between the earth and the moon. The weather forecast, a flight path free of space debris, the dynamic position of the destination (with respect to Earth), the travel time to the destination, the manoeuvres involved, the rocket being used, the purpose of the mission, the movement and impact of other celestial bodies, etc. are all factors that the mission planners take into account when deciding when to launch.

When asked how certain he is in Chandrayaan-3’s successful mission outcome, Dr. Somanath responded that he is always confident, but that space is an unforgiving environment where only rigorous testing and deliberate decision-making provide favourable outcomes. He smiled and added, “Even luck comes out of hard work and the perseverance to do the right thing at the right time,” implying that luck was a factor.