Chandrayaan-3 launch may happen in 2021: ISRO

The ISRO on Wednesday announced that work on the country's third lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3 was on and the launch may shift to next year.

The announcement comes a day after Union Minister Jitendra Singh said India will launch Chandrayaan-3 in 2020.

Addressing a press conference here, ISRO chairman K Sivan said all activities related to the third lunar mission were going on smoothly.

"The government has approved Chandrayan-3, the project is ongoing. The land acquisition for a second spaceport has been initiated and the port will be in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu," said Sivan.

The launch of Chandrayaan 3 may shift to next year, he said.

He also recalled the achievements of ISRO in the year that passed and outlined the focus areas of 2019.

"In 2019 our



strategy mainly was the expansion program, we wanted to expand ISRO horizontally. The second strategy adopted in 2019 was the capacity building sn outreach program. The third one is reduction of the physical work in ISRO. We have also constituted Gaganyan advisory committee," Sivan said.

ISRO Chairman further added that a second vehicle building has also been inaugurated to increase the number of launches and stated that ISRO is expanding its horizon of activity.

"We brought the high school children to ISRO to train them for two weeks on space, Science and technology. Another major activity we initiated is that we want the PSLV to be produced by the industry," said Sivan.

It will also have a lander, rover and a propulsion module like its predecessor, he said. On the cost of the project, Sivan said, "the mission would cost Rs 250 crore."