Chandrayaan 3 on Moon: ISRO Chief S Somnath shares most difficult part of landing on moon

Chandrayaan-3 updates: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) created history today by successfully landing India’s third lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3, on the surface of the moon. With this India became the first country to land on the south pole of the moon and the fourth country to soft land on the surface of the moon.  “India is on the moon now,” ISRO Chief S Somnath declared as India achieved this historic feat. Speaking to the media on the occasion, the ISRO Chairman also shared details about the most parts of the entire mission. While one would assume that the final 19 minutes before Chandrayaan-3’s lunar landing would top the list of the most difficult parts of the mission, the ISRO chief revealed that launch and not the landing was the most difficult part of the mission.

“The most difficult part of the mission is the launch itself… you should not forget that the GSLV Mark 3 (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle), the rocket that launched the Chandrayaan-3 module that contains the Vikram Lander and the Pragyan Rover) did the job of putting the spacecraft into the right orbit,” he said while addressing the media.

Historic day for India’s space sector. Congratulations to @isro for the remarkable success of Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission. https://t.co/F1UrgJklfp

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 23, 2023

“It went to 36,500 km and up to trans-lunar injection (which is a propulsive move used to set a spacecraft on a trajectory to the Moon) phase it went very well,” the ISRO Chairman added.

It is worth noting that the launch was not the only critical part of the Chandrayaan-3 mission. Elaborating on the details, Somnath said that the second most important and difficult part of the mission was what he described as ‘landing and capturing on the Moon’. “If you miss it then it (the possibility of landing on the lunar surface) is gone. You cannot retrieve it and there is no mission,” he explained. For the unversed, ‘landing and capturing the Moon’ refers to time when the computers on board the Vikram Lander must identify a suitable landing site using the sensors on-board. It is a critical step in deboosting and preparing for the landing on the surface of the moon.

The third and the final difficult part of the Chandrayaan-3 mission was the separation of the lander and the orbiter. “Again, you must remember that this was after spending many days in space, in orbit, and the mechanism had to work without problems, which it did,” the ISRO chairman added. Vikram Lander separated from the Propulsion Module on August 17 before deboosting and beginning the final part of its journey.