The Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the Moon after it spun into an uncontrolled orbit, Russia's Roscosmos space agency said on August 20.
India's ambitious third Moon mission's spacecraft Chandrayaan-3 after the launch on July 14, had entered into lunar orbit or the Moon's orbit on August 5.
India scripted history as the ambitious third Moon mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) touched down on the Moon's south pole, propelling the country to an exclusive club of four and making it the first nation to land on the uncharted surface.
People gathered in educational institutions, offices, city squares and religious places to watch the Indian Space Research Organisation's live telecast of Chandrayaan-3's final descent to the uncharted surface of the lunar south pole.
For the Gaganyaan programme, LVM3 rocket is re-configured to meet the human rating requirements and has been christened as 'Human Rated LVM3', ISRO said and it would be capable of launching the Orbital Module to an Low Earth Orbit of 400kms.
The soft landing of the spacecraft is planned for late August. The mission is expected to be supportive to future interplanetary missions.
August 23, the day the Chandrayaan-3 lander touched down on the lunar surface, would be celebrated as 'National Space Day'.
In a giant leap for its space programme, India's Moon mission Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the lunar south pole at 6.04 pm on Wednesday, propelling the country to an exclusive club of four and making it the first country to land on the uncharted surface.
'The ISRO has done enough simulations and also redundancies have been built in so that chances of such failure are remote. Still, we have to keep our fingers crossed'
He noted that Chandrayaan-3 will be inserted into the lunar transfer trajectory after the orbit raising manoeuvres.
Weighing 320 tonne at lift-off, the vehicle used larger strap-on motors to achieve higher payload capability.
Announcing that the health of Chandrayaan-3's Lander Module is normal, ISRO on Friday said that the module has successfully undergone a deboosting (slowing down) operation, taking it closer to the Moon.
This image features the left image within the red channel, and the right image within the blue and green channels, resulting in a striking cyan hue.
The Propulsion Module (PM) of Chandrayaan-3 has been moved from an orbit around the Moon to an orbit around Earth, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has said, terming the operation a unique experiment.
The NASA astronaut with a storied career in space exploration also commended India's substantial role in shaping the field of space exploration.
'Today onwards, the onboard thrusters will be fired and Chandryaan-3 will be taken away from Earth for an eventful landing on Moon's surface on August 23'
Russia's state space corporation, Roskosmos, according to the Reuters report, said it had lost contact with the spacecraft shortly after a problem occurred as it was shunted into pre-landing orbit on Saturday.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission that aims for a soft landing on the moon's surface, paving the way for future interplanetary missions, carries six payloads that would help ISRO understand the lunar soil and also get the blue planet's photographs from the lunar orbit.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was accorded a warm reception as he arrived at the Indian Space Research Organisation headquarters in Bengaluru on Saturday morning.
Singh also said a final decision on the launch of India's sun mission 'Aditya-L1', scheduled for September 2 at present, will rest on the prevailing cosmic aspects.
Friday's mission is the fourth operational flight of LVM3 which aims to launch the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft into a Geo Transfer Orbit.
The entire process being autonomous when the lander has to fire its engines at the right times and altitudes, use the right amount of fuel, and scan of the lunar surface for any obstacles or hills or craters before finally touching down.
Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra D Modi's meeting United States President Donald J Trump, Russia's ambassador to India and the US charge d'affaires met Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman Dr V Narayanan.
The space strategist said that this shows that one should not take anything for granted in space exploration.
Lander Module of Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft comprising the lander and rover has successfully separated from the Propulsion Module, Indian Space Research Organisation said on Thursday.
So, if ISRO is able to revive them as the Sun rises on the Moon again, information that is derived from experiments that could once again be conducted by the Chandrayaan-3 payloads would be a "bonus".
A complaint was lodged against the accused Mitul Trivedi, after he was seen giving interviews to the local media since the Vikram lander successfully made soft landing on August 24, claiming to have designed the lander module of Chandrayaan-3, the official said.
While the actor did not specify the man in the cartoon, many social media users slammed the actor for making fun of former Indian Space Research Organisation chief K Sivan.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday announced that its lunar mission Chandrayaan-3 will be launched on July 14 from the space port at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
Here is ISRO's SAC Director, Nilesh M Desai explains the crucial stage of soft landing.
Its duties include experiments to further understand the lunar surface.
The space agency said the Mission Operations Complex (MOX), located at the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru, is buzzing with energy and excitement.
ISRO on Friday released a set of visuals of the Moon captured by cameras positioned on the Lander Module of Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft.
"The receiver is kept on. Hoping for a successful awakening for another set of assignments! Else, it will forever stay there as India's lunar ambassador," it said.
In a boost to the space programme, the government on Wednesday approved the Chandrayaan-4 mission to bring back moon rocks to earth, to send a spacecraft to orbit planet Venus and to expand the Gaganyaan project to build an Indian space station.
Chandrayaan-1 X-ray fluorescence spectrometer detected sodium from its characteristic line in X-rays which opened up the possibility of mapping the amount of sodium on the moon, ISRO said.
ISRO on Friday said it has made efforts to establish communication with its lunar mission Chandrayaan-3's lander Vikram and rover Pragyan to ascertain their 'wake-up condition' after they had been put into sleep mode early this month -- but no signals have been received from them as of now.
The COVID-19 lockdown has hit several projects of the ISRO including Chandrayaan-3, which was scheduled to be launched in late 2020, and Gaganyaan, the country's first manned space mission.
"Chandrayaan-2 has really incorporated many new features in its instruments which are taking the observations carried out on Chandrayaan-1 to a newer and higher level," added Kiran Kumar, a former ISRO Chairman.
The Indian government has approved the construction of a third launch pad at Sriharikota, capable of sending heavier spacecraft into orbit. This new facility will support India's ambitious space program, including the Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission and a lunar landing. The launch pad will be built at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre and is expected to be operational within four years.
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