As Chandrayaan-3 is inching closer to making history with the soft landing on Moon's surface, a former advisor to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) stated that the lander is capable of handling the "rough landing too." Speaking to the media, Dr Surendra Pal said that the lander can hover like a helicopter if a suitable landing area is not available.
What former ISRO's advisor said?
"There are a lot of boulders and craters in the south pole of the Moon. The surface is very rough. The landing area has been increased from 2.5 kilometre to 4 kilometre," Pal said who is a former senior advisor for the Satellite Navigation programme at ISRO. He further stated that the Vikram lander can land on August 27 too, if it is unable to achieve a soft landing on Wednesday (August 23). "Even if two thrusters work, we can land. A lot of changes are being done. Simulations, both software and hardware have been carried out. Things have been simulated on the surface of the moon," Pal remarked.
According to the former ISRO advisor, the lander's legs can withstand an impact of more than 3 metres per second if they make a soft landing. "What we presume is that the velocity will be 1.86 metres per second. Even if one of the lander's legs lands on a slope, the landing will be a stable one. It can handle a bit of rough landing also”, Pal added.
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Lander Module to touch down near Moon's south pole region
It should be mentioned here that India is eying to become the first country to reach the uncharted south pole of Earth's only natural satellite. The Lander Module comprising of lander 'Vikram' and the rover 'Pragyan' is scheduled to make a touch down near the south polar region of the Moon at 6:04 pm on Wednesday.
If the Chandrayaan-3 mission succeeds in making a touchdown on the Moon and in landing a robotic lunar rover in ISRO's second attempt in four years, India will become the fourth country to master the technology of soft-landing on the lunar surface after the US, China and the erstwhile Soviet Union. Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 and its objectives are to demonstrate safe and soft-landing on the lunar surface, roving on the Moon, and to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.
(With inputs from ANI)
