Ahead of the much anticipated launch of Chandrayaan 3, a team of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists visited Tirupathi Venkatachalapathy Temple in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday and offered prayers. The team arrived at the temple with a miniature model of Chandrayaan-3, which will be India's second attempt to land on the moon.
Science Secretary Shanthanu Batwuadekar was also part of the ISRO team that visited the temple on Thursday.
"This is Chandrayaan-3, our mission to the moon. Our launch is scheduled for tomorrow," a scientist told reporters after offering prayers at the Tirupathi temple.
National Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NARL) Director Amit Kumar Patra, project director of Chandrayaan-3 Veeramuthu Vel, associate project director of Chandrayaan-3 Kalpana Kalahasti, and other senior ISRO scientists were also part of the team.
Earlier, ISRO had announced that Chandrayaan-3 will be launched on July 14 at 2:35 p.m. IST from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.
The objectives of Chandrayaan-3 are to demonstrate end-to-end landing and roving capabilities on the lunar surface after placing a lander and a rover on the Moon's highlands near the south pole, conduct in-situ scientific experiments, and develop and demonstrate new technologies required for interplanetary missions.
The Chandrayaan-3 lander has been designed in a way such that it can land softly in the Moon at a specified site, and deploy the rover, whose aim is to conduct in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface. The propulsion module will carry the lander module to the final 100-kilometre circular orbit. After reaching this orbit, the lander module and the propulsion module will separate.
The propulsion module, after separation, will remain in orbit around the Moon, and act as a communications relay satellite.The lander, rover and propulsion modules will carry their own scientific payloads.
ALSO READ | Tamil Nadu CM Stalin To Attend Opposition Meeting In Bengaluru On July 17: Udhayanidhi