Chandrayaan-3 will be launched today at 2.35pm.
India's space agency has made final preparations for the launch of Chandrayaan-3, the country's third mission to Earth's natural satellite, the moon. With a successful mission, India would join a group of three other countries that have managed a controlled lunar landing, including the United States, the former Soviet Union and China. The rocket is set to blast off from the Sriharikota space centre in Andhra Pradesh at 2:35 pm. Some social media users have claimed that the budget of Chandrayaan-3 is less than recently released film 'Adipurush'.
According to news agency Reuters, Chandrayaan-3 has been built on a budget of just under $75 million (around Rs 615 crore). But a few Twitter users claim that 'Adipurush' makers spent Rs 700 crore on the film.
Twitter user Ravisutanjani tweeted, "Approximate Budget Adipurush - Rs 700 Crore Chandrayaan 3 - Rs 615 Crore Gives a Fair Understanding of Priorities."
It, however, generated a lot of buzz on the social media platform since users were shocked.
"ISRO should be given a significantly larger budget in comparison to the best space agencies in the world!" commented one user.
"ISRO is doing fantastic job with limited budget, if Govt increases it than sky will be the limit. Maybe at some point, Govt will listen to it," said another.
However, trade analysts have pegged the movie's budget at much lower. Official figure is not available.
Meanwhile, the Mark-III rocket launch rocket will blast the spacecraft into an elliptical Earth orbit before it loops toward the moon for a scheduled landing around August 23.
Chandrayaan-3 includes a 2-metre tall lander designed to deploy a rover near the lunar south pole where it is expected to remain functional for two weeks running a series of experiments.
ISRO's Chandrayaan-2 mission in 2020 successfully deployed an orbiter but its lander and rover were destroyed in a crash near where the Chandrayan-3 will attempt a touchdown.