NEW DELHI: India has announced plans for a third lunar mission, months after its last one crash landed on the Moon’s surface, BBC reported.

K Sivan, the chairman of India’s space agency, said work was going “smoothly” on the Chandrayaan-3 unmanned mission.

He further said the country was aiming to launch the mission in 2020 but that it “may spill over” to 2021.

If successful, it would make India the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, and boost its credentials as a low-cost space power.

So far, only Russia, the US and China have successfully put a mission on the Moon’s surface.

(Agencies)