ISRO to launch Chandrayaan-3 in 2020
New Delhi, Dec 31: India will launch Chandrayaan-3 in 2020, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Tuesday, asserting that the mission cost will be less than Chandrayaan-2.
Singh, who is the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, said it is wrong to term Chandrayaan-2 as a disappointment since it was India's maiden attempt to land on the lunar surface and no country could do so in its first attempt.
"Yes, the lander and rover mission will mostly likely happen in 2020. However, as I have said before, the Chandrayaan-2 mission cannot be called a failure as we have learnt a lot from it. There is no country in the world that has landed on its first attempt. The US took several attempts. But we will not need so many attempts," Singh said.
He added that the experience gathered from Chandrayaan-2 and available infrastructure will bring down the cost of Chandrayaan-3.
He, however, declined to specify the month of the third lunar mission launch.
Chandrayaan-2 mission was India's first attempt to land on lunar surface. The ISRO had planned the landing on the South Pole of the lunar surface. However, the lander Vikram hard-landed.
In written response to a question in the Winter session of Parliament, Singh said, "The velocity was reduced from 1683 m/s to 146 m/s. During the second phase of the descent, the reduction in velocity was more than the designed value. Due to this deviation, the initial conditions at the start of the fine braking phase were beyond the designed parameters. As a result, Vikram hard landed within 500 m of the designated landing site."
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Security forces destroy 23 illegal bunkers, seize 18 IEDs in Manipur
Imphal (PTI): Security forces have destroyed 23 bunkers illegally constructed in Manipur's Ukhrul and seized 18 IEDs in Tengnoupal district in separate operations, a police statement said on Saturday.
The bunkers were destroyed on Thursday in the hill villages of Mongkot Chepu, Shongphel, Mullam, Sirarakhong and Ringue in Litan police station area, it said.
A 12-bore pump action gun, 17 cartridges of different calibres and 111 empty cases of fired bullets were also seized.
At least seven people have been shot dead in different firing incidents and more than 30 houses have been torched since violence broke out between Tangkhul Naga and Kuki communities in Ukhrul district in February this year.
Meanwhile, in a separate operation on Wednesday, security forces seized a cache of arms and explosives in T Bongmol village in Moreh police station area in Tengnoupal district.
Two single-barrel rifles, four 9mm pistols with magazines and 18 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were seized. The explosives were destroyed on the spot, it added.
