Chandrayaan-3 launch likely on July 13; ISRO chief says no final decision yet
New Delhi, Jun 28: India is looking at July 13 as a possible launch date for Chandrayaan-3 that entails landing a rover on the lunar surface.
A senior official said the Chandrayaan-3 mission would be launched on July 13 at 2:30 pm from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.
However, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman S Somanath said while the date has not been finalised yet, the agency was looking at the earliest possible date between July 12 and 19.
He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an Indian Air Force event.
"Currently, the window of opportunity is between July 12 and 19. We will take the earliest possible date, may be July 12, 13 or 14 and go towards the end, unless there is a technical issue cropping up," he said replying to queries related to the July 13 launch date.
"No exact date has been announced. We will come to that exact date after all the tests are completed final date will be within this range," Somanath said.
ISRO said the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft has been fully built and assembled with the faring, and is waiting for integration with the rocket.
"Currently, the rocket integration is going on and possibly it will be completed in another two to three days, and then we have to go for a test programme," Somanath said. He added that after integration with the rocket a series of tests would also be carried out.
Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. It has a lander and rover configuration.
The propulsion module will carry the lander and rover configuration till 100 km lunar orbit. It has a Spectro-Polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth payload to study the spectral and polarimetric measurements of Earth from lunar orbit.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
JD(S) wants changes in certain provisions in One Nation-One Election proposal
Bengaluru (PTI): The JD(S) has requested its ally BJP to make changes in certain provisions of the proposed 129th Constitutional Amendment Bill linked to the ONOE proposal, particularly the special powers proposed to be given to the ECI to recommend postponement of elections in any state.
The Parliamentary Joint Committee held discussions with political parties in Bengaluru on Saturday regarding the Constitution Amendment Bill connected to 'One Nation-One Election' and sought their suggestions and opinions.
The JD(S) said suitable amendments had been proposed to the provisions empowering the Election Commission of India to recommend to the President the deferment of state elections, while also seeking legal safeguards for the stability of coalition governments and protection for regional parties during simultaneous elections.
"With regard to the Bill, the JD(S) extended support to the Constitutional amendment with certain conditions and amendments, while suggesting safeguards to ensure that regional parties are not adversely affected by the aggressive election campaigns of national parties during simultaneous elections," the statement said.
The party stated that coalition governments have been formed and functioning at both the state and national levels for several decades in recent years, and "there is a need for legal protection to ensure their stability".
"Therefore, it also suggested incorporating legal safeguards for the stability of coalition governments in the proposed Constitutional amendment," the party, headed by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, said.
The proposed Constitutional amendment grants special powers to the ECI to recommend to the President the postponement of elections in any state. Suitable amendments to these special powers have been proposed, the party said.
"On the above stated subjects, suitable submissions were made to the JPC," the party said in a statement, which has been posted on its 'X' handle.
According to the statement, the JD(S) delegation was led by M Mallesh Babu and included former MP D Kupendra Reddy, former Assembly Deputy Speaker M Krishna Reddy, former minister Venkatrao Nadagouda, MLA T N Javarayi Gowda, former MLA K A Tippeswamy and party legal cell president A P Ranganath.
