India's Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft in orbit around the moon captured this high-resolution photo of the lunar south pole on Sept. 5, 2019.

It's official: India will try again to land on the moon .

The Chandrayaan-3 mission, which will consist of a lunar rover and a stationary lander, has been approved by the Indian government, K. Sivan, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), announced during a news conference Wednesday (Jan. 1).

India's first moon-landing effort failed this past September when the Chandrayaan-2 lander crashed hard into the lunar surface.

Related: India's Chandrayaan-2 Mission to the Moon in Photos

The Chandrayaan-3 news is not exactly a surprise; Indian media outlets reported in November that ISRO had already begun designing the mission and that a launch could come as soon as November of this year.

Sivan did not announce a target launch date in Wednesday's news conference. But he did reveal an estimated cost for Chandrayaan-3, according to Space News : 6.15 billion rupees, or about $91.2 million at current exchange rates. That's considerably cheaper than Chandrayaan-2, which cost 9.7 billion rupees ($136.1 million).

The older mission featured an orbiter as well as a lander and rover, which explains the higher price tag. Chandrayaan-3 doesn't need an orbiter; the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter remains in good health and should continue to operate for years to come, ISRO officials have said.

Sivan discussed a number of other topics as well during the news conference, according to an ISRO press release. One of those was Gaganyaan, Indian's human spaceflight program.

"We've made good progress [on] the mission," Sivan said, according to the ISRO release . He added that four astronauts have been selected for the first Gaganyaan flight to Earth orbit, but he did not reveal the pioneers' names or a target launch date, Space News reported.

In August 2018, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the nation was aiming to notch the milestone by 2022 , the 75th anniversary of India's independence from the United Kingdom.

Mike Wall's book about the search for alien life, " Out There " (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate ), is out now. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall . Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook .