Sriharikota: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman Dr S Somanath on Sunday said that ISRO is gearing up for the launch its Chandrayan-3 mission in June next year.

Somanath informed the media during a press conference that Chandrayaan-3 is almost set to launch in June of 2019. “Chandrayaan-3 is nearly finished. Testing and final integration are almost finished. We want to do it a little later because there are still some unfinished testing. Two seats were open, one in February and the other in June. When it comes to the launch, we’d prefer to use June 2023 “explained he.

Dr. S. Somanath was speaking to the media on Sunday after 36 communication satellites were launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota on the ISRO’s biggest rocket, LVM3-M2/OneWeb India-1.

he said, “16 out of 36 satellites have been successfully separated safely, and the remaining 20 satellites will be separated.”

NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), a central public sector enterprise under the Department of Space, had earlier signed two launch service contracts with Bharti-backed OneWeb, the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite communications company.

After the launch ISRO Chairman said, “We have already started the (Diwali) celebration. 16 out of 36 satellites have successfully separated safely, and the remaining 20 satellites will be separated. The data will come a little later and the operation of observing is underway,”

S Somanath praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for reaching this milestone “This mission is historic. The support of PM Modi, who wants LVM3 to enter the commercial sector with NSIL at the vanguard, made it feasible to operationalize our launch vehicles for the purposes of exploring and extending the commercial realm.”

For the success of the GSLV Mark-3 rocket launch, the ISRO Chairman had earlier performed a special puja on Saturday morning at Sri Chengalamma Parameshwari Devi Temple in Sullurpeta in the Tirupati region.