American delegation joins 'havan' at Noida university for success of Chandrayaan-3

NEW DELHI: A delegation from an American university joined a 'havan' programme conducted by a private varsity in Noida on Wednesday with prayers for the successful landing of India's Chandrayaan-3 expected later in the day. The 'havan' started in the morning with thousands of Amity University students and faculty members in attendance and would continue till the scheduled landing of Chandrayaan-3 at 6.04 pm, the varsity said in a statement.

ISRO's ambitious Chandrayaan-3 mission has been on a journey to the moon since its launch on July 14. Chandrayaan-3's lander, with a rover accommodated inside it, is expected to commence a powered descent around 5.45 pm and touch down on the surface of the moon at 6.04 pm on Wednesday.

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“Balvinder Shukla, vice chancellor of Amity University, Uttar Pradesh; Gurinder Singh, Group Vice Chancellor, Amity Universities; and thousands of students prayed and offered 'aahuti' in the sacred havan performed on the campus for the smooth and successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the moon,” the statement said.

“In addition, a delegation from Colorado State University in the US comprising Travis Maynard Sr Associate Dean, College of Business, CSU, US, and Stene Verhulst – Director – International Enrolment Centre, CSU, US, also offered prayers during the ceremony,” it added. Similar prayers and havans for the success of the ambitious lunar mission have been carried out at various places in the country in the run-up to the landing of the Chandrayaan-3.

Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface, according to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Chandrayaan-3 consists of an indigenous lander module (LM), propulsion module (PM) and a rover with an objective of developing and demonstrating new technologies required for inter planetary missions.

The lander will have the capability to soft land at a specified lunar site and deploy the rover which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility, it said.