Chandrayaan programme
| Candrayāna Abhiyāna | |
LVM3 M4 lifting off with Chandrayaan-3 on 14 July 2023 | |
| Program overview | |
|---|---|
| Country | India |
| Organisation | ISRO |
| Purpose | Exploration of the Moon |
| Status | Active |
| Programme history | |
| Cost | ₹1,980 crore (US$230 million)[1][2] |
| Duration | 2003–present[3] |
| First flight | Chandrayaan-1, 22 October 2008 |
| Last flight | Chandrayaan-3, 14 July 2023 |
| Successes | 2 |
| Failures | 0 |
| Partial failures | 1 (Chandrayaan-2) |
| Launch site(s) | Satish Dhawan Space Centre |
| Vehicle information | |
| Uncrewed vehicle(s) |
|
| Launch vehicle(s) | |
The Chandrayaan programme (/ˌtʃʌndrəˈjɑːn/ CHUN-drə-YAHN) (Sanskrit: Candra 'Moon', Yāna 'Craft, Vehicle', ⓘ)[4][5] also known as the Indian Lunar Exploration Programme is an ongoing series of outer space missions by ISRO for the exploration of the Moon. The program incorporates a lunar orbiter, an impactor, a soft lander and a rover spacecraft.
There have been three missions so far with a total of two orbiters, landers and rovers each. While the two orbiters were successful, the first lander and rover which were part of the Chandrayaan-2 mission, crashed on the surface. The second lander and rover mission Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the Moon on 23 August 2023, making India the first nation to successfully land a spacecraft in the lunar south pole region, and the fourth country to soft land on the Moon after the Soviet Union, the United States and China.
- ^ "Chandrayaan-2 mission cheaper than Hollywood film Interstellar – Times of India". The Times of India. 20 February 2018. Archived from the original on 26 July 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
- ^ "Question No. 2222: Status of Chandrayaan Programme" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2017.
- ^ "2003 – An Eventful Year for ISRO". www.isro.gov.in. Archived from the original on 24 July 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
- ^ "Chandrayaan-2 FAQ". Archived from the original on 29 June 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
The name Chandrayaan means "Chandra-Moon, Yaan-Vehicle", – in Indian languages (Sanskrit and Hindi), – the lunar spacecraft
- ^ Monier Monier-Williams, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899): Candra: "[...] m. the moon (also personified as a deity Mn. &c)" Yāna: "[...] n. a vehicle of any kind , carriage , wagon , vessel , ship , [...]"