When Indian space agency scientists set out to design the Chandrayaan-3 moon mission, they knew they had one more chance to make history with a landing on the lunar south pole after a failed attempt four years ago.
They also had to do it on a shoestring budget and ended up spending only 6.15 billion rupees or about $75 million on the mission.
Although India's government allocated the equivalent of $1.66 billion for the department of space for the fiscal year ending in March, it spent around 25% less. The budget for the current fiscal year is $1.52 billion. "I won't disclose all secrets, otherwise everyone else become cost effective," he said at a news conference.
"To take a direct route takes more power, more fuel, and is far more expensive," said Somak Raychaudhury, an astrophysicist and vice chancellor of Ashoka University. ISRO is gearing up to launch the Aditya-L1 spacecraft, a space-based solar observatory, in September. It has plans to send astronauts to space in a mission ISRO's Somanath has said could come by 2025.
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