Chandrayaan 3: 'Most challenging moment', says ex-ISRO chief on 20 mins between descent & soft-landing

The mission's lander module will begin its descent towards the lunar surface at 5:45pm IST, with landing scheduled at 6:04pm.

Published on: Aug 23, 2023, 12:05:49 IST

By HT News Desk, New Delhi

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Even as he described Chandrayaan-3 as the ‘most significant milestone’ for India's space projects, G Madhavan Nair, the former chairman of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) on Wednesday noted that the final 20 minutes of the Moon mission's descent from the lunar orbit to lunar surface will be the ‘most challenging.’

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announces the landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the moon on August 23 2023, on Sunday. (ISRO twitter)

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“Everybody is anxiously looking forward to this great event. As far as the Indian space programme is concerned, it is going to be the most significant milestone for planetary exploration,” Nair said, speaking to news agency ANI.

The senior space scientist, who headed the national space agency from Sep 2003 to Oct 2009 as its sixth chairman, then cautioned: “The last 20 minutes of descending from the lunar orbit to the lunar surface are going to be the most challenging moment in the history of this mission.”

Also Read: What if Chandrayaan 3 misses soft landing today? 3 scenarios explained

At 5:45pm on Tuesday, the lander module of Chandrayaan-3 will begin its final descent towards the South Pole of Moon. The module, comprising of the lander (Vikram) and rover (Pragyan) is scheduled to make soft-landing at 6:04pm.

‘The 20 minutes of terror’

These will begin at 5:45pm, with ‘Vikram’ firing its engines and preparing for the soft-landing. According to experts, these 20 minutes will be all about the spacecraft touching down at the designated site.

Also Read: Last 20 minutes of Vikram lander's journey to be most crucial

Before India, only three countries have soft-landed on Moon: the United States, Russia and China. Also, with the recent crash of Russia's Luna 25 mission, India has the opportunity to be the first to land at the Moon's South Pole, the lander module's intended destination.

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