‘Even if everything fails, Vikram lander will still reach the moon’ ISRO chief on Chandrayaan-3 landing

ISRO chief made the statement during a talk on ‘Chandrayaan-3: Bharat’s Pride Space Mission’, hosted by the non-profit organisation Disha Bharat

OpEd Desk August 10, 2023

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Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman S Somanath on Tuesday said that the lander of India’s third lunar mission Chandrayaan-3, Vikram lander, will be able to make a soft-landing on the Moon’s surface on August 23 even if all the sensors and two of its engines do not work.

ISRO chief made the statement during a talk on ‘Chandrayaan-3: Bharat’s Pride Space Mission’, hosted by the non-profit organisation Disha Bharat.

“If everything fails, if all the sensors fail, nothing works, still it (Vikram) will make a landing. That’s how it has been designed — provided that the propulsion system works well,” news agency PTI quoted Somanath.

“So, the whole design has been made to make sure that it (Vikram) should be able to handle many failures, provided the algorithms work properly,” he added

He further added that the entire design of the lander has been made in a manner that makes sure that it would be able to handle failures.

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A lander propulsion module separation exercise will be taken up, soon after lander “deboost”, a process that slows down the craft, which will be followed by landing on lunar surface on August 23, IRSO chief added.

“The challenge is also to make sure that the fuel consumed is lesser, the distance calculations are correct and all the algorithms work properly,” Somanath added.

He explained that the ISRO team this time has made arrangements to ensure that Vikram land properly even if there are some variations in the calculations.

Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar mission was launched from Andhra Pradesh’s Sri Harikota on July 14 and entered into lunar orbit on August 5. There will be three more de-orbiting manoeuvres — exercises to bring it closer to the Moon so that Vikram lands on the Moon’s surface on August 23.

These de-orbiting manoeuvres will be performed on August 9, August 14, and August 16 till its orbit reduces to 100 kmx100 km from the Moon, Somanath said as quoted by PTI.