Chennai, July 11 :The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)is gearing up for the third Lunar Mission Chandrayaan-3 that will takeplace on July 14 at 2.35 p.m. from the spaceport of Sriharikota.ISRO will be using its heaviest rocket Launch Vehicle Mission-MkIII(LVM3-M4) which will place the integrated module in an EllipticParking Orbit (EPO) of size 170 x 36500 km.The 43.5 m tall launch vehicle, with a lift off mass of 642 tonnes, willtake off from the Second Launch Pad.The countdown for the launch is expected to commence on Thursdayafter getting clearance from the Launch Authorisation Board (LAB).Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar exploration mission is readyto take off in fourth operational mission (M4) of LVM3 launcher,ISRO said on Tuesday.LVM3 is the operational heavy lift launch vehicle of ISRO and hasa spectacular pedigree of completing six consecutive successfulmissions.This is the fourth operational flight of LVM3, to launch Chandrayaan-3spacecraft to Geo Transfer Orbit (GTO).LVM3 has proved its versatility to undertake most complex missionslike Injecting multi-satellites, Mission planning to ensure saferelative distance among separated satellites through re-orientationand velocity addition maneuvers, Multi orbit (LEO, MEO, GEO) andexecute interplanetary missions.India’s largest and heaviest launch vehicle ferrying Indian andinternational customer satellites.Through Chandrayaan-3 mission, ISRO is crossing new frontiers bydemonstrating soft landing on lunar surface by its lunar module anddemonstrate roving on the lunar terrain.It is expected to be supportive to ISRO’s future interplanetary missions.Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrateend-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.It consists of Lander and Rover configuration. The propulsion modulewill carry the lander and rover configuration till 100 km lunar orbit.The propulsion module has Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable PlanetEarth (SHAPE) payload to study the spectral and Polari metricmeasurements of Earth from the lunar orbit.Additionally the deployment of rover and in-situ scientific experimentwill scale new heights in lunar expeditions by deploying Rover.The Lander payloads are Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment(ChaSTE) to measure the thermal conductivity and temperature; Instrumenfor Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) for measuring the seismicity around thelanding site; Langmuir Probe (LP) to estimate the plasma density and itsvariations.A passive Laser Retroreflector Array from NASA is accommodated for lunarlaser ranging studies.The Rover payloads are Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) andLaser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) for deriving the elementalcomposition in the vicinity of landing site.Chandrayaan-3 consists of an indigenous Lander Module (LM), PropulsionModule (PM) and a Rover with an objective of developing and demonstratingnew technologies required for Inter planetary missions.The Lander will have the capability to soft land at a specified lunar site anddeploy the Rover which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunarsurface during the course of its mobility.The Lander and the Rover have scientific payloads to carry out experimentson the lunar surface. The PM will carry the lander and rover from injectionorbit to till 100 km lunar orbit.The main function of PM is to carry the LM from launch vehicle injectionorbit to till Lander separation.Apart from this, the Propulsion Module also has one scientific payload asa value addition which will be operated post separation of Lander Module.The mission sequence has ten phases. The first is Earth Centric Phase(Phase-1) that contained pre-launch phase, launch and ascent phaseand earth-bound manoeuvre phase.The second phase of Lunar Transfer phase–Transfer Trajectory phase–and the third is Moon Centric Phase which included Lunar Orbit InsertionPhase, Moon bound manoeuvre phase (Phase-4), PM and Lunar ModuleSeparation (Phase-5), De-bbost Phase (Phase-6), Pre-landing Phase(Phase-7), Landing Phase (Phase-8), Normal Phase for Lander and Rover(Phase-9) and Moon Centric Normal Orbit Phase (100 km Circular Orbit)–For Propulsion Module (Phase-10).After the schedule launch on July 14, the landing on the lunar surface wouldtake place in the last week of August.“If the launch takes place on that day then we will be ready for landingon the moon possibly by the last week of August. The date (landing date)is decided when there is sunrise on the moon. When we are landing,sunlight must be there. So the landing will be on August 23 or 24,”according to ISRO Chairman S.Somanath said.If the landing does not take place as planned on August 23 or 24, thenISRO will wait for another month to make a landing attempt in September.“The lander and the rover will stay on the moon for 14 days until sunlightis there. When there is no sunlight, a small solar panel which is on therover will generate power to charge the battery for the next 14 days untillight comes.The temperature there goes down to minus 40 degrees and in such anenvironment there is no guarantee that the battery and electronics willsurvive but we did some tests and we get the feeling that it will surviveeven in such harsh conditions,” Mr. Somanath said.(UNI)