Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) plans to launch Chandrayaan-3 in mid-2023. Aditya-L1, India’s maiden solar mission, will be launched into space in the same time period as Chandrayaan-3, said Indian space agency chief S Somnath.
Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. It consists of the Lander and Rover configuration. Somanath said it would have a similar structure as that of Chandrayaan-2, with the orbiter, a lander, and a rover. However, the orbiter this time is devoid of all the payloads that are there in Chandrayaan-2. Isro’s primary objective is to take the lander to the orbit of the moon and make it land.
Speaking at the 4th Indian Planetary Science Conference, from 22-24 March 2023, in Ahmedabad, Somnath said that Aditya-L1 is going to be a very unique solar observation capability for which instruments have already been delivered, and ISRO is in the process of integrating them into the satellite.
The Aditya mission will be launched to Lagrangian Point L1, a vantage point to observe the Sun continuously without disturbance over a long period of time. Calling the mission to be a very unique solar observation capability, Somnath said that the instruments for the mission have already been delivered and are currently undergoing testing for integration with the satellite.
