Chandrayaan-3 work in progress, but might be delayed till 2021: ISRO chief

Regarding the progress of work on the mission, ISRO chief Sivan told PTI, “Government has approved Chandrayaan-3, the project is ongoing. However, the project might take 14-16 months, which could result in works being pushed to 2021.” Read this perspective on the Chandrayaan-2 mission

According to ANI, Sivan said the land acquisition for a second spaceport has already been initiated and the port would be in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi.

“We have made good progress on Chandrayan-2, even though we could not land successfully, the orbiter is still functioning, it is going to function for the next 7 years to produce science data,” Sivan said, and added that the “the mission would cost Rs 250 crore”.

India’s dream of landing a spacecraft on moon remained unfulfilled on September 9 after the Indian space body was unable to trace communication with the Vikram lander for a long time.

ISRO had claimed that “90-95 per cent of mission objectives” were accomplished, notwithstanding the loss of communication with the Lander, and two months later, the space organisation admitted that the Vikram lander had made a “hard-landing” on the moon.

ISRO, which is in works parallelly with Chandrayaan and  Gaganyaan— the manned lunar mission also said the training of the four astronauts will commence from the third week of January in Russia, PTI reported.

(with PTI, ANI inputs)