India may again attempt soft landing on Moon in November 2020

After an unsuccessful bid two months ago, India may attempt another soft landing on the Moon by next year-end, probably in November, sources in ISRO said on Thursday. The Indian Space Research Organisation had constituted a high-level committee, headed by S Somanath, Director of Thiruvanathapuram-based Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, the lead centre responsible for all launch vehicle programmes of ISRO, to prepare a report on the proposed Chandrayaan-3.

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

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ISRO released new three-dimensional images from the Moon's surface captured by Chandrayaan-2. The images of a crater from the lunar surface was captured by the Terrain Mapping Camera-2 abroad Chandrayaan-2.

#ISRO
Have a look of 3D view of a crater imaged by TMC-2 of #Chandrayaan2. TMC-2 provides images at 5m spatial resolution & stereo triplets (fore, nadir and aft views) for preparing DEM of the complete lunar surface.

For more details visit https://t.co/urlZqzg3Gw pic.twitter.com/VBvUeH1L8s

— ISRO (@isro)

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On September 7, ISRO attempted a soft landing of Chandrayaan-2's 'Vikram' on the unchartered lunar south pole, before losing communication with the lander. A national-level committee consisting of academics and ISRO experts, headed by V Narayanan, Director of the space agency's Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, has analysed the cause of communication loss with the lander.

The members of the panel included those from VSSC and U R Rao Satellite 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," an ISRO official said. "It's expected to be put in the public domain after the approval of the PMO," the official said. 

'Not the end of the story'

The Indian Space Research Organisation will put in all efforts to demonstrate soft landing in space in the near future and Chandrayaan-2 is not the end of the story, ISRO Chief K Sivan said on Saturday.

ISRO chief K Sivan said, a large number of advance satellite launches are planned in the coming months. "You all have heard about the Chandrayaan-2 mission. On the technology part – yes, we could not achieve a soft landing, but all the systems functioned until 300m from Moon's surface. Very valuable data is available to set things right. Let me assure that ISRO will pull all its experience, knowledge and technical prowess to set things right and demonstrate soft landing in near future."

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"Chandrayaan-2 is not the end of the story. Our plans on Aditya L1 solar mission, human spaceflight program are on track. A large number of advance satellite launches are planned in the coming months. SSLV will make its maiden flight sometime in December or January. Testing of 200 ton semi-cryo engine is expected to begin shortly. Work is on to provide NAVIC signals on mobile phones, which will open the path to developing a large number of applications for societal needs," he added.

(With agency inputs)