Chandrayaan-3 is scheduled to launch on July 14, with a soft landing on August 23 or 24

The Indian Space Research Organisation said on Thursday that the Chandrayaan-3 mission will launch on July 14 at 2.35 p.m., with the lander planned to soft-land on the Moon's surface on August 23 or 24. 

Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-up mission to Chandrayaan-2 that will show end-to-end capabilities in safe lunar landing and wandering.

The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, which will be launched by LVM3 (Launch Vehicle Mark-III) (formerly known as GSLV Mk III), is made up of three modules: propulsion, lander, and rover (which will be placed inside the lander).

"LVM3-M4/Chandrayaan-3 Mission: The launch is now scheduled for July 14, 2023, at 2:35 pm IST from SDSC, Sriharikota," the national space agency based here tweeted.

Somanath S, Secretary of Space and Chairman of ISRO, informed reporters that the space agency planned to soft-land the lander on August 23 or August 24.

ISRO officials stated that the lander's mission life is one lunar day, which is equal to 14 Earth days.

"The date (for soft landing) is determined by when the Moon has sunrise." Sunlight must be present when landing. "There is sunlight on the Moon for 14-15 days, and then there is no sunlight for 14-15 days," they observed.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission contains scientific equipment to investigate the thermo-physical parameters of the lunar regolith, lunar seismicity, the lunar surface plasma environment, and the elemental composition around the landing site.

While the scope of these scientific instruments on the lander and rover would fit in with the "Science of the Moon" theme, another experimental instrument will study the spectro-polarimetric signatures of the Earth from lunar orbit, which would also fit in with the "Science of the Moon" theme, according to ISRO officials.

The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft successfully completed the critical tests that proved its capacity to endure the extreme vibration and acoustic environment that the spacecraft would face during its launch in March of this year.

The lander and rover configuration will be carried by the propulsion module, which contains the Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload to analyse the spectral and polarimetric measurements of Earth from lunar orbit.

The payloads on the lander are as follows: 'Chandra's Surface Thermophysical Experiment' to measure thermal conductivity and temperature; 'Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity' to monitor seismicity near the landing location; and 'Langmuir Probe' to estimate plasma density and its changes.

For lunar laser ranging research, a passive Laser Retroreflector Array from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is also available.

The rovers' payloads include a 'Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer' and a 'Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy' to determine the elemental composition around the landing site.

The lander will be able to soft-land at a predetermined lunar spot and deploy the rover, which will conduct in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface while moving.

The propulsion module's primary role is to transport and detach the lander module from launch vehicle injection to the final lunar 100 km circular polar orbit. Aside from that, it was reported that the propulsion module carries one research payload as a value addition that would be operated once the lander module is separated.