Chandrayaan 3 mission's roadmap prepared by ISRO: Jitendra Singh

The Minister of State for Atomic Energy and Space Jitendra Singh on Thursday said that after Chandrayaan-2, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has begun preparations for the Chandrayaan-3 mission for which the organisation has drawn out a roadmap.

Addressing the Rajya Sabha Singh said, "ISRO has drawn out a roadmap of lunar exploration missions to master the technologies required. This roadmap has been presented to the space commission. Based on the final analysis and recommendations of the expert committee, work on future lunar missions is progressing." 

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He further informed that the expert committee has analysed the flight data and extensive simulations have been carried out to re-construct the flight behaviour. "The recommendations of the expert committee will be implemented in future lunar missions," he added.

'ISRO panel's report awaited'

As per reports, ISRO has asked the committee headed by S Somanath, Director of Thiruvanathapuram-based Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, to prepare a report on the proposed Chandrayaan-3. The new mission will include only a lander and rover, as the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter is functioning well as per reports. 

"The panel's report is awaited. The committee has been given a guideline to prepare the mission before the end of next year. There is a good launch window in November," a senior ISRO official said. " "Rover, lander and landing operations will get more focus this time and whatever deficiencies in the Chandrayaan-2 mission will be corrected," official added.

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A committee constituting many institutions, organisations, and senior scientists has been working to study the issues of Chandrayaan-2. It is also trying to understand the reason behind its hard landing, as per Vivek Singh, ISRO spokesperson. The committee was headed by V Narayanan, Director of the space agency's Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre. 

"This committee has pinpointed as to what went wrong. They have prepared a voluminous report and are believed to have submitted it to the Space Commission. It's expected to be put in the public domain after the approval of the PMO," an ISRO official said. 

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Vikram lander hard landed

Earlier, Jitendra Singh in a written reply to the Lok Sabha informed that the Vikram lander hard landed. He said that the first phase of descent was performed nominally from an altitude of 30 km to 7.4 km above the Moon's surface and velocity was reduced from 1,683 metres per second to 146 metres per second.

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(with inputs form agencies)