Chandrayaan-3 equipped in every way…” Space scientist hopes for success of India’s third lunar mission

India will be the fourth country in the world to achieve this feat after the United States, Russia, and China, but India will be the only country in the world to land on the lunar south pole.

Bengaluru: Asserting that the lander and rover of India’s third lunar mission have been made from the learnings of Chandrayaan-2 failure, the former Professor of Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) RC Kapoor on Tuesday said that the Chandrayaan-3 is equipped in every way and its landing will be successful as prescribed.

The space scientist and astronomer, while speaking to ANI said that this time the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has learned from the failure of the Chandrayaan-2 mission, launched in 2019.

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“Everything was checked at the time of Chandrayaan 2 and the world was waiting for its soft landing on the moon. But in the last moments when the distance of 2.1 km was left, then its contact was lost and the lander and rover of Chandrayaan-2 made a hard landing on the surface of the moon,” Kapoor said.

“But the lander and rover of the Chandrayaan 3, which is currently revolving around the moon in pre-landing orbit, have been made from the learnings of the second lunar mission,” he said.

According to ISRO, the Chandrayaan-3 is set to land on the moon on August 23, around 18:04 hours IST.

Detailing the changes made in Chandrayaan-3, the space scientist said that this time the algorithm has been made work free and the leg mechanism of the lander has been strengthened.

“This design can even withstand a speed of 3 meters per second at the time of landing. Its weight is also 250 gm more than the previous lander rover of Chandrayaan-2. It has extra fuel, which means there will be no problem for the lander to reach the surface of the moon,” he said.

Hoping for a soft landing on the moon as prescribed, Kapoor said, “The 15-19 minutes when the lander will deorbit and land on the surface of the moon, it will be on an autonomous mode and no one can control it. It is equipped in every way and the landing will be successful.”

Live actions will be available on the ISRO website, its YouTube channel, Facebook, and public broadcaster DD National TV from 17:27 IST on Aug 23, 2023.

India will be the fourth country in the world to achieve this feat after the United States, Russia, and China, but India will be the only country in the world to land on the lunar south pole.

The primary objectives of Chandrayaan-3 mission are threefold — to demonstrate safe and soft landing on lunar surface; to demonstrate rover roving on the moon, and to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.

Chandrayaan-3’s development phase commenced in January 2020 with the launch planned sometime in 2021. However, the Covid-19 pandemic brought an unforeseen delay to the mission’s progress.

Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on July 14, 2023 via the GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota at 2:35 PM.