What is the difference between Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3?

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is currently developing Chandrayaan-3, which is the third mission aiming at lunar exploration. Like its predecessor Chandrayaan-2, this mission will have a lander and a rover, but not an orbiter. Instead, a propulsion module will serve as a communications satellite.

The propulsion module will be responsible for carrying the lander and rover assembly until the spacecraft achieves a 100-kilometer lunar orbit.

The failure of Chandrayaan-2’s soft landing phase due to a software fault, notwithstanding the lander’s successful orbital insertion, highlighted the need for a new lunar mission.

Chandrayaan-3 will launch on July 14, 2023, at 2:35 Indian Standard Time (IST).

ISRO launched Chandrayaan-2 as part of the second phase of the project, which was meant to show a soft landing on the Moon. LVM 3 was a launch vehicle that contained an orbiter, a lander, and a rover. The lander was scheduled to touch down on the lunar surface in September 2019 in order to deploy the Pragyan rover.

There had been prior speculations of an alliance between Japan and India for a mission to the lunar south pole. As part of this deal, Japan would provide the rocket and the rover, and India would deliver the lander. The mission may be tasked with activities including site sampling and testing lunar night survival technologies.

What is the difference between Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3?

While Chandrayaan-2 included a lander, a rover, and an orbiter, Chandrayaan-3 will just have a lander and a rover. For communications and landscape mapping, Chandrayaan-3 would apparently employ the Orbiter that was launched with Chandrayaan-2 and is presently flying above the Moon.