Chandrayaan-3’s mission, which was successfully launched on July 14, entered lunar orbit on August 5 and on the next day the orbit reduction manoeuvre was performed. Three de-orbiting maneuvers will take place on August 9, 14, and 16. On completion of the maneuvers, the orbit size would be reduced to 100 km x 100 km. The final landing which will take place on August 23 will be a separate exercise.
India's Chandrayaan-3 Captures Breathtaking Moon Visuals during Historic Lunar Orbit Entry! 🌕
🚀ISRO has revealed the mesmerizing first visuals of the Moon, graciously captured by Chandrayaan-3 during its momentous entry into lunar orbit on August 5, 2023. pic.twitter.com/ui0ydYj9N6
— Jahid Hussain 📈 (@JahidHussain2) August 8, 2023
ISRO Chief Clears Air Over Vikram Lander’s Soft Landing
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief, S Somanath, while addressing an event that was organsied by NGO Disha Bharat, Somanath reiterated that even if both the engines of the moon fail, Vikram Lander will be able to achieve soft landing successfully. He added that the real challenge was the transition of Vikram from horizontal position to vertical for landing.
Steps taken by ISRO to combat any failure
Somanath added that the success of the transition from horizontal to vertical is important and it is being done through a series of manoeuvres so as to ensure a secure landing on the surface of the Moon.
He further added that the Vikram lander has been designed in such a way so that it can combat any failures. Somnath mentioned that in case of total sensor and system failure, the lander’s propulsion system is engineered in such a way so as to ensure soft landing
While addressing the gathering, Somanath acknowledged that one of the biggest challenges for them is to conserving fuel during the mission and stressed that Vikram’s landing attempts have been optimized even in the face of computational variations
