India is all geared up as moon mission Chandrayaan-3 is set to land on the lunar surface this evening. The country will go through one of the most agonizing twenty minutes when the Vikram lander attempts a soft landing on the moon's surface.
ISRO Chairman S Somanath says almost 1,000 engineers and scientists would have worked to get the nearly Rs 700 crore mission up and running.
If all goes well, India will become the fourth country to make a soft landing on the Moon.
What went wrong with Chandrayaan-2?
Chandrayaan-3 satellite has been in the making for four years after the partial failure of the Chandrayaan-2, which was sent to space on July 22, 2019. Vikram lander and rover Pragyaan crashed on the Moon's surface during the early hours of September 7.
With rover Pragyan inside, Lander Vikram lost communication with the ground station on September 7 during its final descent, just 2.1 km above the lunar surface, minutes before the planned touch-down on the Moon.
ISRO made all possible efforts to establish contact with the lander, but nothing worked.
It was stated that the lander made a hard landing.
The spacecraft successfully entered the lunar orbit on August 20 by performing Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) manoeuvre, and on September 2, ''Vikram'' successfully separated from the orbiter.
Chandrayaan 2 was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on July 22.
After revolving around the Earth's orbit, the spacecraft began its journey to the moon on August 14. All manoeuvres were carried out to perfection until the last few minutes of descent.
The incident saw all of India uniting in showing their support to the space agency and its scientists, who have said that the moon mission has accomplished at least 90 to 95 per cent of its objectives despite the severance of communication with the lander.
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