Work has begun on Chandrayaan-3 mission, confirms ISRO chief K Sivan

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chief K Sivan on Wednesday (January 1) said that the Centre has approved the Chandrayaan-3 mission and ISRO scientists are currently working on this ambitious project. Sivan said that estimated cost of Chandrayan 3 will be around 250 crore.

Addressing a press conference, the ISRO chief said that good progress has been made on Chandrayan-2 and even though the lander failed to land successfully on the lunar surface the orbiter is still functioning. Sivan added that the orbiter will continue to function for the next 7 years and keep sending data.

"We have made good progress on Chandrayan-2, even though we could not land successfully, the orbiter is still functioning, its going to function for the next 7 years to produce science data," Sivan said.

The ISRO chief also congratulated the Indian man who made effort to find out the landing spot of lander. Sivan said that he preferred not to comment on this development due to strategic reasons.

Sivan said that he broke down after the lander failed to land successfully on the lunar surface because he was emotionally moved. He added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's hug consoled him.

The ISRO chief also talked about Gaganyan mission and said that the ISRO has made good progress on this mission. He added that four 4 astronauts have been selected for this mission and their training will begin in third week of January. According to Sivan, all selected 4 astronauts are male and are from Indian Air Force and they will be trained in Russia.

Outlining the priorities of ISRO in 2020, Sivan said that they are focused on expanding ISRO and take steps aimed at capacity building. The ISRO chief also said that the land acquisition for a second space port has been initiated and the port will be set up in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi.

On Tuesday, Union Minister Jitendra Singh had said that ISRO will launch Chandrayaan-3 in 2020 and the mission cost will be less than Chandrayaan-2. Singh also asserted that Chandrayaan-2 mission was not a 'disappointment' because it was India's maiden attempt to land on the surface of the moon and no country, including the US and China, have succeeded in landing on the lunar surface in  first attempt.

"Yes, the lander and rover mission will mostly likely happen in 2020. However, as I have said before, the Chandrayaan-2 mission cannot be called a failure as we have learnt a lot from it. There is no country in the world that has landed on its first attempt. The US took several attempts. But we will not need so many attempts," Singh said.