India launches 36 internet satellites; Chandrayaan 3 likely in June

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman Dr S Somanath said Diwali started a day early for the space agency with the successful launch of the heaviest rocket carrying 36 communication satellites. Addressing a press conference on the occasion, Dr Somanath said that the Chandrayaan 3 is "almost ready".

"Chandrayaan-3 is almost ready. Final integration and testing are almost complete. Still, some more tests are pending, so we want to do it a little later. There were two slots available, one in February and another in June. We would like to take June (2023) slot for the launch," he said, reported news agency ANI.

All 36 satellites were injected into the orbits around 75 minutes after the rocket blasted off from the spaceport here. The success put the August anomaly behind when the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) mission had made the satellites unusable.

Terming the mission 'historic', Somanath, also the Secretary, the Department of Space credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's support for the mission's success.

"Congratulations to the entire launch vehicle team for grabbing the opportunity and making it ready today for the historic mission. I also want to thank the OneWeb team for having confidence in us to host the LVM3...we are very hopeful that the next mission of LVM3 will do the same to place the remaining 36 satellites it has been contracted by NSIL", he said.

Chandrayaan- 3 likely in June

Chandrayaan-3 was planned to demonstrate India's capability of soft landing on a celestial body - with the rover communicating with Earth via the existing orbiter from Chandrayaan-2. The existing orbiter has an estimated lifespan of seven years.

The mission was announced months after the Vikram lander aboard Chandrayaan-2 crash-landed on the lunar surface just 2.1 km from its destination in September 2019.

Initially, Chandrayaan-3 was scheduled for late 2020 or early 2021, however, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it had to be delayed.

ISRO had finished manufacturing the propulsion system for Chandrayaan -3 before the second wave of the pandemic in April. The lander and propulsion systems were being integrated and several tests were planned for the middle of the year.