To The Moon And Back - Chandrayaan-3

In a very optimistic note, the ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) was working on a project to make its second attempt to land a spacecraft on the Moon.

Earlier in 2019, due to problems that had emerged during the last stage of the descent, Chandrayaan-2’s lander and rover crashed on the moon’s surface. If everything goes as planned, and I sure hope it does, India will become the fourth country in the world to have done so, after the United States, Russia, and China. It was launched from the spaceport at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on July 14, 2023.

Any space mission essentially has two parts – the rocket, or the carrier, and the spacecraft, which could be a satellite or any other payload. The rocket is the powerhouse that packs enough fuel and energy to carry the spacecraft into the space, escaping Earth’s gravity and lower orbit. In most missions, the rockets get destroyed after completing their job. The spacecraft continues to operate as designed. The rocket is powered by a propellant, which is a mix of fuel and oxidisers (that allow for burning to happen), all meant to generate enough energy to help the spacecraft lift-off. Once that happens, this powered flight continues and ends only when the rocket’s last stage burns out and the spacecraft separates. The payload should have been, ideally, placed into the orbit of the planetry body that it is supposed to reach by this time.