Chandrayaan-3 is expected to be launched in 2021 instead of in the second half of 2020 as the government suggests. Union Minister Jitendra Singh declared on Sunday, adding that India's Moon mission would include a rover and a lander but not an orbiter like its predecessor.
In written answer to a query in Lok Sabha, Minister of State at the Prime Minister's office Mr. Singh said four biological and two microgravity-related physical science experiments would be carried out during the Gaganyaan project, India's manned space flight.
Chandrayaan-2 was launched on 22 July 2019, targeted at the Moon's South Pole. On 7 September the Vikram reached the lunar surface.
The Indian Space Research Association (ISRO) listed plans for launching another mission to the moon before the end of 2020, after a hard landing in Chandrayaan-2 in September last year. But the novel coronavirus pandemic has led to a delay in Chandrayaan-3 's launch.
"The sign of this finding is that even though the surface of the Moon is known to have iron-rich rocks, it is not known for the presence of water and oxygen, which are the two elements needed to interact with iron to create rust" singh said.
At the same time , India prepares itself for its first ever Gaganyaan Human Space flight, which is currently being undertaken with training processes and other processes.