NEW DELHI, 14 Jul. The Indian lunar station Chandrayaan-3 has separated from its launch vehicle and successfully launched into Earth orbit, said Indian Space Research Organization Chairman Sridhara Somnath
Chandrayaan-3 has been launched into the desired orbit,» the head of the organization said during the launch broadcast.
The GSLV Mk III launch vehicle with a lunar station was launched from the spaceport on the island of Sriharikota in the state of Andhra Pradesh at 14:35 (12:05 Moscow time). Approximately 17 minutes after the launch of the launch vehicle from the launch pad, the satellites separated and the combined module, consisting of a propulsion system, a landing module and a lunar rover, entered an elliptical orbit.
The spacecraft's journey from Earth to the Moon will take about a month, with a landing scheduled for August 23, according to the Indian Space Agency.
After the device enters the lunar orbit, the landing module of the Chandrayaan-3 mission will have to deliver the lunar rover to the lunar surface. It is planned that the lunar rover equipped with various research equipment will analyze the surface of the Earth's natural satellite. The mission of the lunar rover is designed for 14 Earth days.
Mission «Chandrayan-3» is designed to correct possible errors made during the launch of the previous mission «Chandrayan-2».
The Indian spacecraft Chandrayaan-2 entered the orbit of the Moon on August 20, 2019. In September of the same year, the Vikram module was supposed to make a controlled descent to the lunar surface. The descent of the apparatus proceeded normally, however, at an altitude of 2.1 kilometers, a failure and deviation from the route occurred, the details of which are still unclear. Then the communication «Vikram» with the command post was lost. After a series of unsuccessful attempts, the Indian Space Research Organization has stopped making efforts to restore contact with him.