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India's third lunar exploration mission 'Chandrayaan-3' by its space agency, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), is scheduled for launch in August this year.

This information was given by Dr Jitendra Singh, who is the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology and also the minister of Atomic Energy and Space. 

He said that based on the learnings from Chandrayaan-2 and suggestions made by the national level experts, the realization of Chandrayaan-3 is in progress. Many related hardware and their special tests are successfully completed and the Launch is scheduled for August 2022.

Prior to this, Chandrayaan-2 was attempted by ISRO in July 2019, when a last-minute software glitch led to the failure of the India's second lunar mission. Chandrayaan-2's Vikram Lander crash-landed on the moon's surface after its guidance software malfunctioned, according to an internal report presented to the Space Commission.

The Minister also informed that the number of missions planned in this year  (Jan-Dec 2022) are 19, which consist -- 8 Launch Vehicle Missions, 7 Spacecraft Missions and 4 Technology Demonstrator Missions.

The lander for Chandrayaan-3 will have only four throttle-able engines unlike Vikram on Chandrayaan-2 which had five 800 Newtons engines with a fifth one being centrally mounted with a fixed thrust. 

Additionally, the Chandrayaan-3 lander will be equipped with a Laser Doppler Velocimeter

The LDV sensor was developed for Chandrayaan-2 too, however since it did not perform well in ground-tests, it was not included in that mission. 

LDV sensors will be useful as they will help directly measure the velocity from the height of about 20km, sources added and reports suggested that Bengaluru-based LEOS (Laboratory for Electro-Optics Systems) lab, a unit of ISRO, has developed the sensor. LEOS is situated at Peenya Industrial Estate, Bengaluru where first Indian satellite was fabricated in 1975.

The estimated cost of Chandrayaan-3 project is reportedly more than Rs.600 Crores.

India's next lunar mission will be the Lunar Polar Exploration Mission, which suggested to be launched in 2024 and for this India is collaborating with Japan however the mission details is not yet defined. 

According to Japan's space agency JAXA, it is working with ISRO to plan an international collaborative mission to obtain the data on the quantity and forms of the water resources present on the Moon.
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