Category: Tech

Mercedes-Benz India Planning to Launch New EVs in Coming Months, Expects EV Portfolio to Grow

Betting big on the growing electric vehicle market in India, luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz is expecting its EV portfolio (present and future) to make up 25 percent of its total car sales in the next three years, growing from the current levels of three to four percent. Mercedes-Benz on Thursday launched the GLC, its new petrol/diesel SUV, in Hyderabad.

Managing Director and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India Santosh Iyer said the automaker is planning to launch three to four EVs in the coming 12 to 18 months in India.

“For India as well we feel that there would be a rapid adoption as and when new cars launch, and at this stage we are looking at three to four new EVs in the next 12 to 18 months time. So, slowly but surely we should increase penetration. And in the next three years we feel that 25 percent of our sales would be EVs in India as well,” Iyer told PTI.

According to him, it would be easier for Mercedes-Benz car users to adopt electric vehicles as most of them already have charging facilities at home or office and may not depend on public infrastructure.

He hoped that some states which are still levying road tax on EVs would give an exemption to the segment.

He further said the German car maker’s plant spread over 100 acres in Pune has the capacity to produce 20,000 units annually, which can be ramped up to 40,000.

“Our current investments are close to Rs 2,700 crore in the plant. With GLC (car model launched recently) we have invested an additional Rs 100 crore. This capacity to make 20,000 cars in India (can) go up to 40,000… The first phase of 20,000, we should be seeing very soon. In the next two to three years, we should be reaching those numbers,” he said.

On sales figures, Iyer said the high-end automobiles maker sold over 8,500 cars during the first half of the current year and expects double-digit growth for the full year.

Iyer said the new petrol/diesel SUV launched today has already garnered over 1,500 bookings so far across the country, and there is a waiting period of about four months for new bookings.

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Vivo Y77t With MediaTek Dimensity 7020 SoC, 44W Fast Charging Support Launched: Price, Specifications

Vivo Y77t was launched in China on Friday. The smartphone joins the Vivo Y77, Vivo Y77e and Vivo Y77e (t1) in the lineup. The base Chinese variant of Vivo Y77 lineup is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 930 SoC, while the Malaysian variant comes with a MediaTek Dimensity 810 chipset. The Y77e and the Y77e (t1) are also powered by MediaTek Dimensity 810 SoCs. The newly launched handset, Vivo Y77t comes with a MediaTek Dimensity 7020 SoC and is backed by a 5,000mAh battery with 44W fast charging support. 

Vivo Y77t price

Offered in Haoyehi (black), Jade Porcelain Blue and Phoenix Feather Gold (translated from Chinese) colour options, the 8GB RAM + 128GB storage variant of the Vivo Y77t is priced at CNY 1,399 (approx Rs. 16,000), while the 12GB RAM + 256GB storage is listed at CNY 1,599 (nearly Rs. 18,000). The phone is available for purchase in China.

Vivo Y77t specifications

Featuring a 6.64-inch full HD+ (2388 x 1080 pixels) display, the Vivo Y77t comes with a refresh rate of 120Hz and a touch sampling rate of 240Hz. The dual nano SIM-supported smartphone ships with Android 13-based OriginOS 3. It is powered by an octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 7020 SoC, along with up to 12GB of LPDDR4x RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 2.2 inbuilt storage.

The dual rear camera unit of the Vivo Y77t is equipped with a 50-megapixel primary rear sensor and a 2-megapixel lens accompanied by an LED flash unit. The 8-megapixel front camera sensor is placed in a centre-aligned hole-punch slot at the top of the display.

Backed by a 5,000mAh battery, the Vivo Y77t supports 44W wired fast charging. For security, the phone carries a side-mounted fingerprint sensor. It also supports 5G, Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS and USB Type-C connectivity. The smartphones comes with a 3.5mm audio jack. Weighing 190 frames, the black variant of the handset measures 164.06mm x 76.17mm x 7.98mm while the jade blue and gold variants come with a thickness of 8.07mm.

Is the iQoo Neo 7 Pro the best smartphone you can buy under Rs. 40,000 in India? We discuss the company’s recently launched handset and what it has to offer on the latest episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Vivo V29e to Launch in India on August 28, Flipkart Availability Confirmed


What Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg’s Canceled Cage Match Says About Masculine Anxiety



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Vivo V29e to Launch in India on August 28, Flipkart Availability Confirmed

Vivo V29e is all set to make its India debut on August 28. The Chinese smartphone brand tweeted about the arrival of the new V-series smartphone in the country on Friday. The Vivo V29e is confirmed to go on sale via Flipkart. The handset is teased to come with a 64-megapixel rear camera sensor with support for optical image stabilisation (OIS). It appears to have a curved display with a centrally aligned hole-punch cutout. The Vivo V29e could run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400-series chipset.

The new Vivo V29e will be launched in India on August 28, as per a teaser poster shared by the company on X (formerly Twitter). The launch event will begin at 12:00pm IST. The brand has also started sending media invites for the launch. The smartphone is confirmed to go on sale through Flipkart.

Vivo has posted renders of the handset on the microblogging platform, revealing its design. Company’s India website also carries a microsite that suggests its specifications. The Vivo V29e is shown to have a curved display and a centrally-aligned hole-punch cutout on the screen for housing the selfie camera. The handset is claimed to be the slimmest phone with a 3D curved screen in the Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 30,000 price range.

The Vivo V29e is shown to have a dual rear camera setup, led by a 64-megapixel primary sensor with support for OIS. For selfies and video chats, it is teased to sport a 50-megapixel front camera. The phone is confirmed to be offered in Artistic Red and Artistic Blue colour options with a colour-changing rear glass panel. However, the colour-changing technology will be exclusive to the Artistic Red variant. It is teased to come with a 7.57mm thin profile and 180.5 grams weight.

As per a previous leak, Vivo V29e will be offered in 8GB RAM + 128GB storage and 8GB RAM + 256GB storage configurations. It could ship with Android 13-based FunTouchOS 13. A Snapdragon 480 5G SoC or the Snapdragon 480+ 5G SoC is expected to fuel the device. The phone is tipped to house a 4,600mAh battery with support for 80W charging.

The Vivo V29e could be unveiled as a close sibling to the Vivo V29 Lite 5G that was launched in the Czech Republic in June this year.

The Vivo X90 Pro has finally made its debut in India, but is the company’s flagship smartphone for 2023 equipped with enough upgrades over its predecessor? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Red Dead Redemption’s New PS4 and Nintendo Switch Ports Feature Minor Resolution Bumps Despite $50 Price

Red Dead Redemption is out now on the PS4 and Nintendo Switch and unsurprisingly, it is a barebones upgrade to the revered Western odyssey. During the initial announcement, Rockstar Games never revealed any technical specifications, simply calling it a ‘conversion’ that didn’t mention anything about visual improvements or support for 60fps. That seems to be the case, judging by the new press release — dropped launch day — which states that regardless of the platform, the game is locked to 30fps. The new bit of information, however, is that the port from Double Eleven Studios runs at 1080p resolution on the Nintendo Switch and PS4, going up to 4K resolution on the PS4 Pro and PS5 (playable via backward compatibility).

Bear in mind, this is a port of a 13-year-old game, so it’s not surprising for the Switch to run it on a full-HD resolution. The handheld console has proven itself worthy to run newer open-world titles like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt at 720p when the console is docked. Meanwhile, Digital Foundry claims that while Red Dead Redemption’s PS5 port doesn’t come with any worthwhile enhancements, the image and shadow quality is better than the Xbox Series S/X version, albeit the latter is running the original Xbox 360 version via backwards compatibility with no extra work done on it. The lack of 60fps seems to be a major compromise for players, considering it is the gold standard for modern console gaming, which is not helped by the expensive $49.99/ Rs. 3,639 price tag.

The version comes with all the bonus features from the Game of the Year Edition, including the Tomahawk, Explosive Rifle, and Golden Guns, alongside unlockable trophies. There’s also some new localisation support and the package comes included with the Undead Nightmare zombie add-on. The port reeks of a cash grab attempt (much like the remastered GTA trilogy), despite parent company Take-Two CEO’s comments about how $49.99 is the ‘commercially accurate‘ price for a standard port. The pricing doesn’t make much sense either, considering Take-Two previously remade Mafia from the ground up with an expanded story and gameplay, which is only priced at $40/ Rs. 2.199, whereas this simple port with nary an upgrade goes for $50.

A PC version is nowhere in sight either and it’s ironic, considering you can run Red Dead Redemption at 60fps via the Xenia emulator. Others are miffed by the events leading up to the reveal, where the port received a new title: ‘Rockstar Games Presents: Red Dead Redemption,’ causing them to believe that a remaster was imminent. The game follows former outlaw John Marston as he journeys across the sprawling American West to locate the last remaining members of the notorious Van der Linde gang. The game also introduced the Honor system, wherein NPCs would react kindly if John had performed positive acts, and harshly if his morality was flawed. This version also doesn’t include multiplayer.

Red Dead Redemption is now available on the PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

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Mastercard Launches CBDC Partner Program for Discussions on Digital Currencies Among Crypto Players: Details

Mastercard has taken another step into its Web3 foray with the launch of a CBDC-focussed forum. The aim is to provide crypto players with a platform where they can open discussions around the emergence of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), that are beginning to crop up in different parts of the world. Supported on blockchains, CBDCs are the digital representations of fiat currencies like dollars and rupees. Several countries including India are already working on their respective CBDCs, hoping to bring more transparency to financial records.

Called the ‘CBDC Partner Program’, this initiative aims to stir discussions on how CBDCs could be made more efficient in terms of use cases, an official blog post from Mastercard said on August 17.

Crypto-related firms Ripple, Consensys, Fluency, Idemia, Consult Hyperion, and Fireblocks have been roped-in by Mastercard as the initial members of its CBDC Partner Program.

As per Mastercard’s Raj Dhamodharan, people must have a diverse range of payment options that come with the capability of interoperability. Dhamodharan serves as the head of digital assets and blockchain at the company.

“It will be essential that the value held as a CBDC is as easy to use as other forms of money, as we look ahead toward a digitally driven future. We believe in payment choice and that interoperability across the different ways of making payments is an essential component of a flourishing economy,” Dhamodharan said.

Mastercard, in its blog further added that at this point, 93 percent of central banks are engaged in some form of work on CBDCs. Given the situation, discussions among crypto players could help central banks avoid mistakes and loopholes.

“There are many questions that central banks need to consider. This includes the role of the private sector in CBDC issuance, security, privacy, and interoperability — such as how a CBDC works with other commonly used payment mechanisms, what specific challenges CBDCs would solve and whether they’re even the right tool for the job,” noted Jesse McWaters, Head, Global Regulatory Advocacy, Mastercard.

With this CBDC Partner Program, Mastercard wishes to add more understanding to the safe and useful deployment of CBDCs, enriched with the feedback of industry players.

“Implemented poorly, a CBDC could create disruptions in the established payment system and crowd out private sector investment,” the blog added.

CBDCs function like cryptocurrencies, but instead of being unregulated and volatile, CBDCs are regularised and issued by the central banks. CBDCs not only maintain unchangeable and transparent records of online payments, but also reduces dependency on cash notes.

Developing markets like India and China have found a broader acceptance for CBDCs, a recent survey on CBDCs by the CFA Institute said. The survey further noted that 42 percent of its global respondents were in favour of central banks releasing CBDCs.

Owing to the rise in CBDC craze, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also said that it had begun work on a platform to enable CBDC transactions between countries back in June.

The IMF aims to converge central banks on a common regulatory framework for digital currencies that will allow global interoperability. Failure to agree on a common platform would create a vacuum that would likely be filled by cryptocurrencies, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva had said at the time.

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Vivo X100 Pro+ Tipped to Feature 50-Megapixel Camera With Variable Aperture, 200-Megapixel Telephoto Lens

Vivo X100 Pro+ specifications have surfaced online, ahead of the purported smartphone’s arrival in China. Last year, the company launched the Vivo X90 and the top-end X90 Pro+ model grabbed the attention of smartphone enthusiasts with its camera prowess. Vivo is expected to announce the Vivo X100 series smartphones in November with a list of upgrades over the Vivo X90 lineup. The date is yet to be officially confirmed by the brand, but the Vivo X100 Pro+ specifications have already leaked online. It is tipped to sport a 120Hz display and feature a 200-megapixel telephoto lens.

Tipster Fixed focus digital (translated from Chinese) leaked the specifications of the rumoured Vivo X100 Pro+ via Weibo on Friday. According to the tipster, the handset will come with a 6.78-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The handset might run on Qualcomm’s unannounced Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC, coupled with LPDDR5X RAM and UFS4.0 storage.

The Vivo X100 Pro+ is tipped to offer renovated cameras over its predecessor — Vivo X90 Pro+. The camera setup is said to include a 1-inch 50-megapixel Sony IMX989 sensor with a variable aperture, a 50-megapixel Sony IMX758 portrait sensor and a 200-megapixel telephoto camera. The variable aperture feature will enable users to capture dynamic lighting by adjusting the aperture sizes. Further the Vivo X100 Pro+ is said to pack an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor for authentication and have an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance.

The Chinese smartphone maker launched the Vivo X90 series comprising the Vivo X90, Vivo X90 Pro, and Vivo X90 Pro+ in China in November last year. The price of Vivo X90 Pro+ starts at CNY 6,499 (roughly Rs. 74,000) for the 12GB RAM + 256GB storage model

The Vivo X90 Pro+ runs on Android 13-based OriginOS 3 and features a 6.78-inch 2K (1,440 x 3,200 pixels) E6 AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate. It runs on Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, coupled with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM. It features a quad rear camera unit comprising a 50-megapixel Zeiss 1-inch sensor, a 50-megapixel Sony IMX758 sensor, a 48-megapixel ultra-wide sensor and a 64-megapixel periscope telephoto camera. For selfies, it has a 32-megapixel sensor at the front.

There is up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 inbuilt storage on the Vivo X90 Pro+. It has an IP68-rated build for dust and water resistance. The handset is backed by a 4,700mAh battery, with 80W fast charging support.

The Vivo X90 Pro has finally made its debut in India, but is the company’s flagship smartphone for 2023 equipped with enough upgrades over its predecessor? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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RBI Launches UDGAM Web Portal to Access Details of Unclaimed Deposits

The Reserve Bank on Thursday launched a centralised web portal UDGAM (Unclaimed Deposits – Gateway to Access information) to help people search and claim unclaimed deposits. The portal, launched by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, has been developed by the central bank to help the public to facilitate and make it easier for them to search their unclaimed deposits across multiple banks in one place.

Presently unclaimed deposits from seven banks — State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India, Dhanlaxmi Bank, South Indian Bank, DBS Bank India, and Citibank — are available on the RBI UDGAM portal.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the development of a centralised UDGAM portal for searching unclaimed deposits as part of the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies dated April 6, 2023. Given the increasing trend in the number of unclaimed deposits, the RBI has been undertaking public awareness campaigns from time to time to sensitise the public on this matter, the central bank said in a statement.

Through these initiatives, the RBI has been encouraging members of the public to identify and approach their respective banks for claiming unclaimed deposits, it added.The launch of the web portal will aid users to identify their unclaimed deposits/ accounts and enable them to either claim the deposit amount or make their deposit accounts operative at their respective banks.

Reserve Bank Information Technology (ReBIT), Indian Financial Technology & Allied Services (IFTAS) and participating banks have collaborated on developing the RBI portal.

To begin with, users would be able to access the details of their unclaimed deposits in respect of seven banks presently available on the portal. The search facility for remaining banks on the portal would be made available in a phased manner by October 15, 2023, it noted.

About Rs. 35,000 crore unclaimed deposits as of February 2023 were transferred to the RBI by public sector banks (PSBs) in respect of deposits, which were not operated for 10 years or more. State Bank of India (SBI) tops the chart of unclaimed deposits worth Rs. 8,086 crore, followed by Punjab National Bank Rs. 5,340 crore, Canara Bank Rs. 4,558 crore, and Bank of Baroda Rs. 3,904 crore.

The deposits remaining unclaimed for 10 years in a bank are transferred to the ‘Depositor Education and Awareness’ (DEA) Fund maintained by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Depositors’ protection being an overarching objective, the RBI has been taking various measures to ensure that newer deposits do not turn unclaimed and existing unclaimed deposits are returned to the rightful owners or beneficiaries after following due procedure.

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Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 Reportedly Being Tested; Tipped to Get 50-Megapixel Rear Camera

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 is reportedly being tested. The next foldable from Samsung is expected to be the successor to the Galaxy Z Flip 5, released last month at the second Galaxy Unpacked event of the year. The anticipated clamshell foldable is expected to get a significant camera upgrade. The Flip 5 was recently launched alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 5, which comes with a 7.6-inch QXGA+ (2,176 x 1,812 pixels) Dynamic AMOLED 2X Infinity Flex primary display and a 6.2-inch full-HD+ (2,316 x 904 pixels) Dynamic AMOLED 2X cover panel.

A Galaxy Club report suggests that Samsung is testing the purported Galaxy Z Flip 6 with a 50-megapixel primary rear sensor. If true, it will be a significant upgrade over the dual 12-megapixel rear sensors of the recently-launched Galaxy Z Flip 5. The report added that the Flip 6 carries the codenamed B6, while the Fold 6 is codenamed Q6.

The Galaxy Flip 6 is expected to launch in 2024 since Flip 5 was released in July this year. Usually, the South Korean tech giant takes a year between the release of two consecutive lineups. For instance, the Galaxy Z Flip 4 was launched in July 2022. It is best to take the current leaks and rumours with a pinch of salt since it is too early for anything to be officially confirmed.

Notably the Galaxy Z Flip 5 went on sale in India starting Friday, August 18. It features a 6.7-inch full-HD+ (1,080×2,640 pixels) Dynamic AMOLED 2X Infinity Flex primary display and a 3.4-inch Super AMOLED folder-shaped outer screen.

Powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 comes with 8GB of RAM and up to 512GB of inbuilt storage. It ships with Android 13 with OneUI 5.1.1 on top. Alongside its dual rear cameras, the clamshell foldable is equipped with a 10-megapixel front camera sensor for selfies and video calls.

Packing a 3,700mAh battery, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 comes with 25W wired fast charging, Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 and Wireless PowerShare support. Offered in Blue, Cream, Graphite, Gray, Green, Lavender, Mint, and Yellow colour options, the phone starts at Rs. 99,999 for the 8GB RAM + 256GB variant and lists the 8GB + 512GB variant at Rs. 1,09,999.

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WhatsApp Rolls Out HD Photo Sharing Feature to All Users: How it Works

WhatsApp has begun rolling out HD photo sharing for all users on the chat application. The feature will be rolled out by Meta to users over the next few weeks. With the latest update, users will be able to share high-quality and high-resolution images in their WhatsApp chats from both Android and iOS — even WhatsApp Web and desktop users will be able to send images that will be accompanied by a small ‘HD’ icon. Meta has also announced that support for sending HD videos is coming soon.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the rollout of the feature on Thursday via a Facebook post. When adding an image to a chat thread, users will see an HD icon. The feature was tested earlier this year on the beta channel in June. Images with an HD resolution are clearer, but they also consume more data — when they are transferred — and more storage space, compared to non-HD images.

WhatsApp feature tracker WABetaInfo had previously revealed that the app will lightly compress even an HD image. The default will be the Standard non-HD option and users will have to manually select the HD option each time they plan to share a high-quality image. 

With the announcement, Meta hasn’t specified how much compression will be applied to HD photos, how they will appear when compared to transmitting images over Apple’s iMessage or any other rival platform.

It is worth noting that HD photos, like any other media shared on WhatsApp, will also be protected by end-to-end encryption. Recipients with slow internet connections will have the option of downloading the standard version. 

WhatsApp also recently rolled out a screen-sharing feature during video calls which has a similar layout to that of Google Meet or Zoom. The call participants appear in small rectangular tiles on the right side of the screen while the shared screen is seen in the primary view.

Samsung launched the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 alongside the Galaxy Tab S9 series and Galaxy Watch 6 series at its first Galaxy Unpacked event in South Korea. We discuss the company’s new devices and more on the latest episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram Lander to Undergo Deboosting Manoeuvre: Details

Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander is set to undergo a crucial deboosting manoeuvre on Friday after successfully getting separated from the propulsion module a day before. The deboosting manoeuvre is scheduled today at around 4 PM IST. Deboosting is the process of slowing down to position itself in an orbit where the orbit’s closest point to the Moon (Perilune) is 30 km and the farthest point (the Apolune) is 100 km. 

“The next Lander Module (Deorbit 1) manoeuvre is scheduled for tomorrow (August 18, 2023) around 1600 hrs IST,” ISRO posted on X (formerly Twitter) yesterday while announcing the successful separation of the lander from the propulsion module.

Chandrayaan- 3 Lander Module is successfully separated from Propulsion Module (PM)
Photo Credit: Twitter / ISRO

The Chandrayaan-3 mission’s lander is named after Vikram Sarabhai (1919–1971), who is widely regarded as the father of the Indian space programme. On Wednesday, the spacecraft carried out the final lunar-bound orbit reduction manoeuvre of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, a week ahead of its scheduled landing on the south pole of the moon on August 23.

A GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle was used for the launch of the spacecraft that was placed in the lunar orbit on August 5 and since then it has been through a series of orbital manoeuvres.

It has been a month and three days since the Indian Space Research Organisation launched the Chandrayaan-3 mission on July 14. The spacecraft was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota. ISRO is bidding to make a successful soft landing on the moon, which will make India the fourth country in the world to achieve the feat after the United States, Russia, and China.

The stated objectives of Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar mission, are safe and soft landing, rover roving on the moon’s surface, and in-situ scientific experiments.

The approved cost of Chandrayaan-3 is Rs. 250 crores (excluding launch vehicle cost).
Chandrayaan-3’s development phase commenced in January 2020 with the launch planned sometime in 2021. However, the COVID-19 pandemic brought an unforeseen delay to the mission’s progress.

Chandrayaan-3 is the ISRO’s follow-up attempt after the Chandrayaan-2 mission faced challenges during its soft landing on the lunar surface in 2019 and was eventually deemed to have failed its core mission objectives.

The key scientific outcomes from Chandrayaan-2 include the first-ever global map for lunar sodium, enhancing knowledge on crater size distribution, unambiguous detection of lunar surface water ice with IIRS instrument and more.

During the Chandrayaan-1 mission, the satellite made more than 3,400 orbits around the moon and the mission was concluded when the communication with the spacecraft was lost on August 29, 2009, according to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), S Somanath last week expressed confidence in the progress of the Chandrayaan 3, providing reassurance that all systems were operating as planned. Chairman S Somanath stated, “Everything is going fine now. There will be a series of manoeuvres until it lands (on the Moon) on 23rd August. The satellite is healthy.”

Moon serves as a repository of the Earth’s past and a successful lunar mission by India will help enhance life on Earth while also enabling it to explore the rest of the solar system and beyond.

Historically, spacecraft missions to the Moon have primarily targeted the equatorial region due to its favourable terrain and operating conditions. However, the lunar south pole presents a vastly different and more challenging terrain compared to the equatorial region. 

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