Chandrayaan-3 scheduled for launch in August 2022

New Delhi: The Department of Space has planned as many as 19 missions this year even as the Chandrayaan-3, the next phase of India's mission to the moon, is scheduled for August 2022, the government told the Lok Sabha.

"Based on the learnings from Chandrayaan-2 and suggestions made by the national level experts, the realisation of Chandrayaan-3 is in progress. Many related hardware and their special tests are successfully completed, and the launch is scheduled for August 2022," Union Minister for Space Dr Jitendra Singh said in reply to a written question.

A total of 19 missions are planned during January to December 2022, including eight 'Launch Vehicle Missions', seven 'Spacecraft Missions' and four 'Technology Demonstrator Missions', Singh said.

Several ongoing missions were impacted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Also, reprioritisation of projects has taken place in the backdrop of Space Sector reforms and newly introduced demand driven models, he said.

The list of satellites launched in the last three years' time include EOS-03 launched on August 12, 2021; Amazonia-1 launched on February 28, 2021; Satish Dhawan SAT (SDSAT) on February 28, 2021, and UNITYsat on February 28, 2021.