India’s Third Moon Mission

Context: 

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully conducted the flight acceptance hot test of the CE­20 cryogenic engine that will power the Cryogenic Upper Stage of the LVM3 launch vehicle for the Chandrayaan­ 3 mission.

About the news:

• The hot test test was conducted at the ISRO Propulsion Complex, Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu.
• It was carried out for a planned duration of 25 seconds at the High Altitude Test Facility. 
• All the propulsion parameters during the test were found satisfactory and closely matched with predictions. 
• The cryogenic engine will be further integrated with the propellant tanks, stage structures and associated fluid lines to realise the fully integrated flight cryogenic stage.

Chandrayaan-3

• Chandrayaan-3 is the successor to the Chandrayaan-2 mission and it will likely attempt another soft-landing on the lunar surface.
• It will be a mission repeat of Chandrayaan-2 but will only include a lander and rover similar to that of Chandrayaan-2. It will not have an orbiter.
• The Chandrayaan­3 interplanetary mission has three major modules — propulsion, lander and rover modules. 
• Chandrayaan­3 is India’s third moon mission and is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan­2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. 
• The mission is slated to be launched later this year by Launch Vehicle Mark 3 (LMV3) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.
• As per ISRO, the total cost of Chandrayaan-3 mission will be over Rs 600 crores. In comparison, the total cost of the Chandrayaan-2 mission was Rs 960 crores.

                                                                                                                            News Source: The Hindu