Bengaluru:

The triumph of Chandrayaan-3 – India’s Moon mission – was the result of tens of thousands of hours of research and analysis by hundreds of scientists, engineers and technicians, who guided the nation to space history last month after the Vikram lander soft-landed near the lunar South Pole. Spearheading the Indian Space Research Organisation’s efforts was agency boss S Somanath, who spoke exclusively to NDTV on Saturday, on his personal and professional journey and the importance of India creating and establishing a “permanent habitat” on the Moon, Mars and exoplanets.

Among the points the ISRO Chairperson discussed were the many challenges he has faced over the course of his career, including (the now scarcely believable) comment “my position (in ISRO) was threatened… I could have been thrown out”.

“… don’t think everything was nice for me in my life… I also faced challenges in personal life and official life. You (referring to himself) can be thrown out of an organisation… your position can be threatened (and) you are sometimes not even treated with great respect,” Mr Somanath told NDTV.

Looking back on his career, India’s top space man recalled harsh words ahead of an earlier launch.

“Many years ago… in launch of PSLV Mark-III expedition there was every possibility of a failure but somebody had to take the decision (of launching) and I took it. I think I was threatened… that it would be a “colossal failure”,” he said.

‘But there was nobody else and I did it… and it was successful. Many things happen in life like that.”

READ | India Must Have Permanent Habitat On Moon And Mars: ISRO Chief To NDTV

The ISRO boss, with a smile on his face, said that though he had been criticised and his ability questioned, he had taught himself to rise above the “silly words… silly acts” of some people.

“‘…you are not a suitable person (for this role)’… I hear all this criticism but you have to raise yourself above these silly things. Once you reach that point (of self-confidence) you can look at people like this and smile. Their silly acts can be ignored.”

READ |“Work Of A Generation”: ISRO Chief On Chandrayaan-3’s Moon Landing

“How to do that? You go through a process… learn how to develop your self-confidence. And once you do that then you are not worried about these silly people and their words,” he told NDTV.

The man who made India’s wildest space dreams a reality is soft-spoken and erudite, and describes himself as an “explorer”. “I explore the Moon… the inner space. It is part of the journey of my life to explore science and spirituality,” he said at a temple after Chandrayaan-3 landed on the Moon.

That “journey” involves an understanding of one’s weaknesses and limitations.

READ | “I Explore Both Science And Spirituality”: ISRO Chief On Temple Visit

Mr Somanath said. “I had several limitations… both in terms of technical capabilities and my own personal capacity. You work on this over a period of time in your own way. For me, my mental and physical growth and subject knowledge growth was thanks to various people who came in my life at different times and gave me insight.”

On India Habitat On Moon, Mars

On India’s future space plans – which include the Aditya L1 solar and manned Gaganyaan mission – Mr Somanath said if humanity plans to travel beyond Earth, habitat creation is needed on the Moon and Mars, as well as exoplanets, and that Indians had to be there.

“We think of ourselves as so inferior today… that we are not technologically advanced, not financially powerful. And we always think we are poor, so we can’t invest in all of this. I believe that this has to go, for a nation which thinks that they are the one who are creators of knowledge,” he said.

File picture of Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander
| Photo Credit: ISRO

ISRO on Monday said the Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-3 successfully underwent a hop test when it made the soft-landing again on the lunar surface.

On command it (Vikram lander) fired the engines, elevated itself by about 40 cm as expected and landed safely at a distance of 30 to 40 cm away, ISRO said in an update on ‘X’.

Noting that the Vikram lander exceeded its mission objectives, ISRO said the importance of the exercise was that this ‘kick-start’ enthuses future sample return and human missions.

“Vikram soft-landed on the moon, again! Vikram Lander exceeded its mission objectives. It successfully underwent a hop experiment. On command, it fired the engines, elevated itself by about 40 cm as expected and landed safely at a distance of 30-40 cm away,” ISRO said in a post.

“Importance?: This ‘kick-start’ enthuses future sample return and human missions! All systems performed nominally and are healthy. Deployed Ramp, ChaSTE and ILSA were folded back and redeployed successfully after the experiment,” the space agency added.

India scripted history by soft-landing the Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar surface on August 23.

India became the fourth country to touch the lunar surface and first to ever reach the south pole of the moon.

New Delhi:

India’s space agency has shared a video of the Pragyan rover being rotated on the Moon’s surface – remotely from the command centre in Bengaluru – in search of a route that avoids craters and rocks on the lunar surface. The rover and Vikram, the lander that carried Pragyan to the Moon, are racing to finish experiments before a lunar night (which lasts 14 Earth days) sets next week.

“The rover was rotated in search of a safe route. The rotation was captured by a Lander Imager Camera,” the Indian Space Research Organisation posted on X (formerly Twitter). “It feels as though a child is playfully frolicking in the yards of Chandamama, while the mother watches affectionately…”

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
The rover was rotated in search of a safe route. The rotation was captured by a Lander Imager Camera.

It feels as though a child is playfully frolicking in the yards of Chandamama, while the mother watches affectionately.
Isn’t it? pic.twitter.com/w5FwFZzDMp

— ISRO (@isro) August 31, 2023

This latest update from the Moon comes a day after Pragyan shared an image of Vikram – the first using its NavCam, or navigation camera and the first since it was deployed. All visuals shared before were taken by the lander; happy ISRO scientists posted the “image of the mission” on X.

READ | “Smile, Please!”: Rover Pragyan Clicks Image Of Lander Vikram On Moon

Pragyan’s “Moon Walk” Video

On Monday too ISRO shared a “re-route” update from the Moon, noting Pragyan had been sent on a different, and safer, path, after coming face-to-face with a four-meter diameter crater.

READ | Rover Pragyan Faces Large Crater During Moon Walk, Sent On “New Path”

Pragyan Confirms Presence Of Sulphur Near Moon’s South Pole

One of the instruments on the rover – the Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope – has confirmed the presence of sulphur on the lunar surface near south pole, ISRO said Tuesday, adding that aluminium, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese, silicon and oxygen had also detected.

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:

In-situ scientific experiments continue …..

Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) instrument onboard the Rover unambiguously confirms the presence of Sulphur (S) in the lunar surface near the south pole, through first-ever in-situ measurements.… pic.twitter.com/vDQmByWcSL

— ISRO (@isro) August 29, 2023

ISRO said in-situ measurements revealed, “unambiguously”, the presence of sulphur – something not feasible using instruments onboard orbiters – and that they were now hunting for hydrogen.

India Makes Space History

The nation took a giant leap on August 23 after Chandrayaan-3’s module – Vikram – touched down; India became only the fourth country – after the United States, China, and Russia – to soft land on the moon’s surface – and the first to go as close as it did to the Moon’s South Pole.

India’s next big space mission is to launch on Saturday – Aditya L1 – which will orbit the Sun and observe solar activities and their effects on space weather in real time.

The graph of temperature variation on lunar surface. Twitter/@isro

ISRO on August 27 released a graph of the temperature variation on lunar surface with increase in depth measured by the ChaSTE payload onboard Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander module.

According to the space agency, Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) measured the temperature profile of the lunar topsoil around the south pole, to understand the thermal behaviour of the Moon’s surface.

“Here are the first observations from the ChaSTE payload onboard Vikram Lander. ChaSTE measures the temperature profile of the lunar topsoil around the pole, to understand the thermal behaviour of the moon’s surface,” ISRO said in an update on ‘X’, formerly Twitter.

The payload has a temperature probe equipped with a controlled penetration mechanism capable of reaching a depth of 10 cm beneath the surface.

“The probe is fitted with 10 individual temperature sensors. The presented graph illustrates the temperature variations of the lunar surface/near-surface at various depths, as recorded during the probe’s penetration. This is the first such profile for the lunar south pole. Detailed observations are underway,” it said.

The payload was developed by a team led by the Space Physics Laboratory (SPL) of ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in collaboration with Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad.

India on Wednesday scripted history as ISRO’s ambitious third Moon mission Chandrayaan-3’s Lander Module (LM) touched down on the lunar surface, making it only the fourth country to accomplish the feat, and first to reach the uncharted south pole of Earth’s only natural satellite.

A screenshot shows the surface of the Moon captured by Lander Imager Camera aboard ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 before its successful touchdown.

With the Chandrayaan-3’s lander module Vikram successfully making a touchdown on the moon and the rover Pragyan ramping down, one camera developed by Laboratory for Electro-Optics Systems (LEOS) in Bengaluru has already made an impact while another would be guiding the Pragyan as it traverses the moon’s surface.

The Lander Horizontal Velocity Camera (LHVC), which is onboard the Vikram, has already clicked the first image of the moon during its descent on the lunar surface on Wednesday

LHVC, which was initially developed for the Chandrayaan-2 mission, has also been adopted for the Chandrayaan-3 mission.

“LHVC has an important role of measuring horizontal velocity during the Lander descent phase. It does a complex algorithm calculating the velocity in which the lander is travelling. This instrument provides important information during the descent, ” said Subhalakshmi Krishnamoorthy, who led a team of scientists at LEOS to develop the camera. She has now retired from ISRO.

The second camera is the Navigation camera (NAVCAM) and two of them will be the eyes of the Rover, guiding it as it traverses the moon’s surface.

Both NAVCAMs are fitted in the front of the rover for path planning and obstacle avoidance for the rover.

“The Pragyan Rover has two Navigation cameras fitted in the front of the rover to navigate the Rover in the lunar terrain. NAVCAM-Left & NAVCAM -Right help in path planning and obstacle avoidance, to ensure that there is no rock, there is no obstacle, there is no pit etc., in the path. It is like a human being or robot having eyes, so wherever the rover is going to move there is a path planning which is done based on the stereo images from Navcams” said Ms Krishnamoorthy, the former Deputy director of ISRO. She attributed the success to the sincere and dedicated hard work of her team members.

She added that both the cameras were developed for the Chandrayaan-2 lander and rover. However, the Chandrayaan 2 mission ended in a failure when during the descent, the Vikram lander crashed on the lunar surface. It subsequently lost communication with the ground stations.

• The Lander Horizontal Velocity Camera (LHVC), which is onboard the Vikram, has already clicked the first image of the moon during its descent on the lunar surface on August 23.
• LHVC, which was initially developed for the Chandrayaan-2 mission, has also been adopted for the Chandrayaan-3 mission.
• Another is the Navigation camera (NAVCAM) and two of them will be the eyes of the Rover, guiding it as it traverses the moon’s surface.

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The indigenous rover’s exploration of the lunar surface began a day after India became the fourth country to successfully land on the moon, spurring euphoric celebrations at ISRO and around the country. Photo: ISRO

Hours after the Pragyan lunar rover rolled out from the Vikram lander and took its first “walk on the moon” in the early hours of Thursday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that the historic Chandrayaan-3 Mission was running on schedule, with all systems working normally. Instruments aboard the lander and rover will now study the moon’s mineral composition and the seismic activities in its atmosphere, according to ISRO chairman S. Somanath.

The indigenous rover’s exploration of the lunar surface began a day after India became the fourth country to successfully land on the moon, spurring euphoric celebrations at ISRO and around the country.

‘Walk on the moon’

“Chandrayaan-3 ROVER: Made in India Made for the MOON! The Ch-3 Rover ramped down from the Lander and India took a walk on the moon!” ISRO posted on social media platform X, on Thursday morning.

President Draupadi Murmu had made the first announcement of the rover’s successful deployment at 7 a.m. “Its rolling out a few hours after the landing of Vikram marked the success of yet another stage of Chandrayan 3. I look forward with excitement, alongside my fellow citizens and scientists to the information and analyses that Pragyan will acquire and enrich our understanding of the moon,” she posted.

‘All systems are normal’

Later in the evening, ISRO added an update on mission operations and the payloads aboard the lander. “Chandrayaan-3 Mission: All activities are on schedule. All systems are normal. Lander Module payloads ILSA, RAMBHA and ChaSTE are turned ON today. Rover mobility operations have commenced. SHAPE payload on the Propulsion Module was turned ON on Sunday,” it posted.

Dr. Somanath confirmed that the rover movement is happening and working very well. He told the Press Trust of India that there are two instruments in the rover and three instruments on board the lander, and all of them have been switched on sequentially.

“They will study basically the mineral composition of the moon, as well as the atmosphere of the Moon and the seismic activities there,” he added.

‘Perfect landing’

Dr. Somanath also said that the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft’s lander Vikram had touched down on the moon’s surface well within the area identified for the purpose.

“(The lander landed) perfectly in the intended site. The landing location was marked as 4.5 km x 2.5 km — I think on that space, and the exact centre of that was identified as the location of landing. It landed within 300 metres of that point. That means it is well within the area identified for landing,” he said.

(with PTI inputs)

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File picture of President Droupadi Murmu.
| Photo Credit: ANI

President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday congratulated the ISRO over the successful deployment of the Chandrayaan 3’s Pragyan Rover.

The deployment took place a few hours after the successful landing of the Lander Module. The Rover was inside the belly of the Lander Module.

“I once again congratulate the ISRO team and all fellow citizens for successful deployment of Pragyan-rover from inside Vikram-lander. Its rolling out a few hours after the landing of Vikram marked the success of yet another stage of Chandrayan 3. I look forward with excitement, alongside my fellow citizens and scientists to the information and analyses that Pragyan will acquire and enrich our understanding of the moon,” Ms. Murmu posted on X social media platform on Thursday.

Though there was no official word from ISRO on August 23 about the deployment of Pragyan, its roll out took place a few hours after the successful landing.

ISRO is yet to officially release any images of the rollout of the Rover or its deployment on the lunar surface. However on social media there have been images of the Pragyan coming out of the Lander Module.

The Rover will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility.

“The Pragyan rover may come out in the next few hours or it may take one day also to come out depending on the conditions,” ISRO Chairman S. Somanath told reporters after the soft landing on August 23.

Also Read | On the moon, over the moon

He said that once out, the rover would carry out two important experiments. It has two payloads — the LASER Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) and the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS). The objectives of the LIBS are to conduct qualitative and quantitative elemental analysis and to derive the chemical composition and infer mineralogical composition to further our understanding of the lunar surface.

The APXS will determine the elemental composition of lunar soil and rocks around the landing site.

• The deployment of the Chandrayaan 3’s Pragyan Rover took place a few hours after the successful landing of the Vikram Lander Module. The Rover was inside the belly of the Lander Module.
• ISRO is yet to officially release any images of the rollout of the Rover or its deployment on the lunar surface.
• The Rover will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launches the LVM3-M4/Chandrayaan-3 Moon Mission, lift off from the second launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre-SHAR, Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on July 14, 2023
| Photo Credit: B. JOTHI RAMALINGAM

 India became the first nation to successfully land a craft on the Moon’s south pole on August 23, the latest milestone in a renewed push for lunar exploration that has drawn in both the world’s top space powers and new players.

New Delhi’s attempt came days after the crash-landing on the Moon of Russia’s Luna-25 probe.

Here is the latest on various missions to the celestial body:

India’s Chandrayaan-3

Chandrayaan-3, which means “Mooncraft” in Sanskrit, follows India’s successful launch of a probe into lunar orbit in 2008 and a failed lunar landing in 2019.

The mission launched in mid-July and orbited Earth several times to build up the necessary speed for its journey.

Following Wednesday’s successful landing, a solar-powered rover will explore the surface of the relatively unmapped lunar south pole and transmit data to Earth over its two-week lifespan.

The mission is the latest milestone in an ambitious but relatively cheap space programme that saw India become the first Asian nation to put a craft into orbit around Mars in 2014.

The Indian Space Research Organisation is also slated to launch a three-day crewed mission into Earth’s orbit by next year.

Russia’s Luna

The launch of Luna-25 on August 11 was the first such Russian mission in almost 50 years and marked the beginning of Moscow’s new lunar project.

On August 16, the lander was successfully placed in the Moon’s orbit but three days later, it “ceased to exist following a collision with the Moon’s surface”, space agency Roscomos said.

Also rea: Explained | What the fate of Luna 25 means for Russia

It had been set to land on the Moon’s surface and remain there for one year to collect samples and analyse soil.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been working to strengthen space cooperation with China after ties with the West broke down following the start of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Moscow had hoped to build on the legacy of the Soviet-era Luna programme, marking a return to independent lunar exploration in the face of financial troubles and corruption scandals at its space programme.

China’s great leap

China is pursuing plans to send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030 and build a base there.

The world’s second-largest economy has invested billions of dollars in its military-run space programme in a push to catch up with the United States and Russia.

China was the third country to place humans in orbit in 2003 and its Tiangong rocket is the crown jewel of its space programme, which has also landed rovers on Mars and the Moon.

The unmanned Chang’e-4 rocket landed on the far side of the Moon in 2019. Another robot mission to the near side raised the Chinese flag there in 2020.

That Moon landing brought rock and soil samples back to Earth, the first time that has been done in more than four decades.

NASA’s Artemis

NASA’s Artemis 3 mission is set to return humans to the Moon in 2025.

Under the Artemis program, NASA is planning a series of missions of increasing complexity to return to the Moon and build up a sustained presence so it can develop and test technologies for an eventual journey to Mars.

Artemis 1 flew an uncrewed spacecraft around the Moon in 2022.

Artemis 2, planned for November 2024, will do the same with crew on board.

NASA sees the Moon as a pitstop for missions to Mars and has done a deal with Finnish mobile firm Nokia to set up a 4G network there.

However it has said the Artemis 3 mission may not land humans on the Moon. That will depend on whether certain key elements are finished in time.

Elon Musk’s firm SpaceX won the contract for a landing system based on a version of its prototype Starship rocket, which remains far from ready.

An orbital test flight of the uncrewed Starship ended in a dramatic explosion in April.

New players

Recent technological progress has reduced the cost of space missions and opened the way for new players in the public and private sectors to get involved.

But getting to the Moon is not an easy task. Israeli non-profit organisation SpaceIL launched its Beresheet lunar lander in 2019 but it crashed.

And in April this year, Japan’s ispace was the latest company to try, and fail, at the historic bid to put a private lunar lander on the Moon.

Two U.S. companies, Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines, are set to try later in the year.

India has become the fourth country to successfully land on the moon as the Chandrayaan-3’s lander module, with the rover in its belly, successfully made a soft landing on the lunar surface on Wednesday.

Precisely at 6.03 p.m. the lander touched the lunar surface and there were euphoric celebrations at the Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking, and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bengaluru, as India joined an elite list of countries including the United States, Russia and China to achieve the feat, becoming the first nation to touch down on the polar region of the moon.

Chandrayaan-3 live updates

“We have achieved soft landing on the moon; India is on the moon,” ISRO Chairman S. Somanath said on Wednesday.

Mr. Somanath said the lander had achieved most of the nominal conditions of landing, including the velocity of touchdown. “The velocity was less than 2 metres per second, this gives us a lot of confidence that the health of lander is very good to carry out all the planned experiments, including the Pragyaan rover coming out. We are looking for [an] exciting 14 days from now,” Mr. Somanath said.

ISRO said communication link was established between the lander and MOX-ISTRAC, Bengaluru. It also shared images taken by the lander horizontal velocity camera during the descent.

The successful landing on Wednesday has erased the painful memories of failure of the Chandrayaan-2’s Vikram lander in 2019.

During the descent, the Vikram lander gave up at an altitude of 2.1 km before touchdown and crashed on the lunar surface. It subsequently lost communication with the ground stations.

However, this time everything went as per plan.

Around 5.44 p.m., the powered descent of the lander module was initiated. The powered descent is divided into four phases — rough braking, attitude-hold, fine-braking and terminal descent phase. The lander completed each of these phases seamlessly and 19 minutes later at 6.03 p.m. the lander had made a safe and soft landing on the moon.

Modi’s message

Following the successful landing, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation from South Africa and said India’s successful moon mission was not India’s success alone. “This is a year in which the world is witnessing India’s G-20 presidency. Our approach of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’ is resonating across the globe. This human-centric approach that we represent has been welcomed universally. Our moon mission is also based on the same human-centric approach.” 

He added that this success belonged to all of humanity. And it would help moon missions by other countries in the future. “I am confident that all countries in the world, including those from the Global South, are capable of achieving such feats. We can all aspire for the moon and beyond,” Mr. Modi said.

“India has reached the South Pole of the moon where no country in the world could reach to date with the dedication and talent of our scientists”, the Prime Minister added.

The lander will deploy the rover which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility. The lander and the rover, with a mission life of one Lunar day (14 Earth days), have scientific payloads to carry out experiments on the lunar surface.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on July 14 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

Chandrayaan-3 consists of an indigenous lander module, a propulsion module and a rover with an objective of developing and demonstrating new technologies required for inter-planetary missions.

The objectives of the mission are to demonstrate safe and soft landing on lunar surface, to demonstrate rover roving on the moon and conduct in-situ scientific experiments.

The soft landing took place mere days after Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft had crashed into the moon after spinning out of control.

The lander with four legs had multiple sensors to ensure a safe touchdown, including an accelerometer, altimeters, doppler velocimeter, inclinometer, touchdown sensor, and a suite of cameras for hazard avoidance and positional knowledge.

The team behind Chandrayan-3’s success

Soon after the ISRO achieved the historic feat of landing on the lunar south pole, Mr. Somanath introduced the key members who enabled India to achieve the task flawlessly.

P. Veeramuthuvel, Project Director, Chandrayaan-3, said, “It is a great moment of happiness, it gives me immense satisfaction on achieving this goal as Project Director of this mission. The entire mission operations from launch till landing happened flawlessly as per the timeline and we have become the fourth country to demonstrate the soft landing on the moon and the first country to go to the south pole of the moon.”

Thanking the navigation guidance and control team, propulsion team, sensors team and all the mainframe subsystems teams, who have brought success to the mission, Mr. Veeramuthuvel also expressed his gratitude to the critical operations review committee for thoroughly reviewing the mission operations right from the launch.

“The target was [spot on], because of the review process,” he said, as he acknowledged the contribution of the Chandrayaan-3 project executives working across various ISRO centres.

Sreekanth, Mission Director, Chandrayaan-3, said, “It gives me immense pleasure to be part of Chandrayaan-3 and as Mission Director, I would like to thank each and every team member who has supported in carrying out all the mission operations flawlessly.”

Calling it a memorable moment, Kalpana K., Associate Project Director, Chandrayaan-3, said, “We have achieved our goal flawlessly after rebuilding our spacecraft. It has been breath in and out for our team.”

M. Sankaran, Director of U.R. Rao Satellite Centre, said, “Today we have achieved what we set out to achieve in 2019. It was delayed by four years but we have done it.” He was referring to the failed landing of Chandrayaan-2 in 2019.

“As the Prime Minister mentioned, we will now be looking at putting man in space, putting spacecraft around Venus and landing a craft on Mars,” he said.

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Students in Surat hold a banner wishing successful landing of Chandrayaan-3’s on Moon’s surface
| Photo Credit: PTI

The Centre has asked all universities and higher education institutions, including IITs and IIMs, to organise special assemblies to watch the live-streaming of Chandrayaan-3’s landing on Moon.

“The landing of India’s Chandrayaan-3 is a monumental occasion that will not only fuel curiosity but also spark a passion for exploration within the minds of our youth. It will generate a profound sense of pride and unity as we collectively celebrate the prowess of Indian science and technology.

“It will contribute to fostering an environment of scientific inquiry and innovation,” Higher Education secretary K. Sanjay Murthy said in a letter to all heads of all education institutions.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has also issued a similar directive asking the institutions to hold special assemblies and live stream moments of Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar mission landing, on Wednesday.

According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Chandrayaan-3 is scheduled to land on the Moon on August 23, at approximately 6:04 pm. Chandrayaan-3 is all set to make a soft landing on Moon’s south pole.

“The Higher Education Institutions are requested to organise special assemblies from 5.30 pm to 6.30 pm and watch live streaming of Chandrayaan-3 landing on the Moon to witness this momentous occasion,” the letter added.