Crew escape system will be tested extensively: ISRO

On the country's third moon mission, Isro decided to widely test the crew escape systems of its rocket before sending the Indian astronauts into it.  It will also test the moon lander before the Chandrayaan-3 mission launch.

"The space agency had doubts about the sensors of the Chandrayaan-2 mission, launched a couple of years ago, which crashed into the lunar surface," says Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) Chairman, S. Somnath.

"Isro is not in a hurry to go to the moon and is working on making its moon lander more rugged," he further said.

After the successful launch of three Singaporean satellites with the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C53 (PSLV-C53) rocket, he stated to the reporters.

The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV MK III) rocket will be human-rated. We have to prove its safety systems. The safety systems have to be tested," Somnath added.

According to S. Somnath, four crew escape demonstrations will be carried out and unmanned GSLV-Mk III rockets will be sent up before the actual human space mission.

The agency will launch the satellites of OneWeb - a joint venture between India's Bharti Global and the UK government - this September/October and in 2023.