Chandrayaan-3: Former ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair met with reporters ahead of the eagerly anticipated soft landing of Chandrayaan-3, the nation’s third moon mission. He discussed the importance of this mission for India’s entire space programme as well as the last-minute manoeuvres. “The last leg of its operation and everybody is anxiously looking forward to this great event. As far as the Indian space program is concerned, this is going to be the most significant milestone for planetary exploration. Of course, in the past, we have made an attempt to land on the lunar surface, but unfortunately, it did not succeed at the time. Since then, ISRO has done considerable studies and simulations and strengthened the designs and provided redundancies so that the mission success probability can be improved,” he said.
Decoding Chandrayaan-3’s Complex Descent
The powered fall of the Vikram lander is anticipated to begin at 1745 IST on August 23, 2023, the day of Chandrayaan-3’s intended soft landing on the south pole of the moon. The powered descent from the lunar orbit to the lunar surface, which will take place in the final 20 minutes, will be the most difficult part of the mission’s history, according to him, even though everything is lined up for a smooth landing. “As far as this soft landing is concerned, not many people have succeeded. It is only USA, Russia and China have succeeded so far to land on the south pole of the Moon. Of course, recently, the Luna spacecraft of Russia also crashed and landed on the lunar surface. Considering all this background, we have to really make sure everything is normal and perfect before the landing operation takes place,” he said. “The landing operation involves first reducing the velocity of the spacecraft from 1.6 kilometre per second to a few hundred meters per second and then making it over at a low altitude, taking pictures of the lunar surface and identifying the spot where it can safely land. There are rocks and there are craters and valleys in the region. So one has to really choose the spot on which the landing can take place safely. And this operation will be done in the last minute or so.” “And that is the most important event which is as far as the mission is concerned. After reaching identifying the spot, the thrusters again will slowly bring the spacecraft to the lunar surface. After landing there, the rover is suspected to move out and then have the investigation in the southern polar region for about 14 days. It will collect data about the minerals which are there, identify the water sources and also the helium three and so on,” he added. “So this is a very significant event as far as ISRO is concerned, and everybody is anxiously looking forward to the successful completion of this event” said Madhavan Nair.
ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 Soft Landing Nearing Success as Mission Progresses Smoothly
According to ISRO’s most recent briefing on the Chandrayaan-3 soft landing, the mission is proceeding according to plan, and systems are being regularly inspected. If this mission is successful, India will become the only nation to have left a mark on the lunar south pole, which is thought to be tough due to its arid conditions, and fourth country, behind the US, China, and Russia, to have successfully landed on the moon’s surface. Due to its advantageous terrain and operating circumstances, the equatorial area of the Moon has historically been the main focus of spacecraft missions. In contrast to the equatorial zone, the lunar south pole offers a very diverse and more difficult landscape. On July 14, the spacecraft was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. ISRO has insisted that the health of the spacecraft is still “normal” following the launch on July 14. The development phase of Chandrayaan-3 began in January 2020, with a launch date of some time in 2021. But the mission’s advancement was unexpectedly delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Keep watching our YouTube Channel ‘DNP INDIA’. Also, please subscribe and follow us on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, and TWITTER.