Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Credit: ISRO

India appears ready to rekindle its Moon exploration program, apparently eyeing this August to loft the country’s Chandrayaan-3 mission.

Jitendra Singh, Minister of State, Science and Technology, has stated that the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is readying its third lunar exploration mission.

“Many related hardware and their special tests are successfully completed, the launch is scheduled for August 2022,” Singh said in a statement to India’s lower house of the Parliament.

Credit: ISRO

Landing location

Reportedly, India’s GSLV Mk 3 booster will hurl the Chandrayaan-3, consisting of a lander and rover, from the Satish Dhawan Space Center.

India’s Chandrayaan-2’s Vikram lander and its rover.
Credit: ISRO

The lunar South Pole site that saw the crash landing of Chandraayan-2 is being targeted, according to some reports.

In 2019, India’s Chandrayaan-2’s Vikram lander and its rover plowed into the lunar landscape and were destroyed. In that mission, an orbiter was successfully placed into lunar orbit. Still operating, it will help in communications for the upcoming Chandrayaan-3 landing attempt.

Chandrayaan-2’s Moon orbiter.
Credit: ISRO

According to the ISRO website: “The Lunar South pole is especially interesting because of the lunar surface area that remains in shadow is much larger than that at the North Pole. There could be a possibility of presence of water in permanently shadowed areas around it. In addition, South Pole region has craters that are cold traps and contain a fossil record of the early Solar System.”