Chandrayaan-3 Mission Will Be Successful, Game-Changer Event for India: Former ISRO Scientist

Former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan, who has been instrumental in the country's space sector innovation said that the Chandrayaan-3 mission is going to be successful and a game-changer event for India. 

''Chandrayaan-3 will definitely be a game changer for India and I hope it will be successful. India will become an inspiration to the entire world. Let's wait for the launch and pray for the best," said Nambi Narayanan to ANI.

Chandrayaan-3, India's third lunar exploration mission, will make India the fourth country to land its spacecraft on the surface of the moon and demonstrate the country's ability for safe and soft landing on the lunar surface.

The countdown for the launch of the mission began on Thursday at 2:35 pm IST ahead of take-off on Friday from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The spacecraft will be launched on a GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle.

This will be Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) follow-up attempt after the Chandrayaan-2 mission faced challenges during its soft landing in 2019.

“I'm assuming, and I hope that it will be a successful mission. Because whatever the problem in Chandrayaan-2, actually, we corrected the whole thing. From the failure, we have understood all mistakes (on our part),” Narayanan told ANI as the final countdown for the much-awaited has just begun.

The success of this to-be-launched spacecraft to the moon will be a grand success and would inspire the country, the former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist and a recipient of India's third highest civilian award ‘Padma Bhushan'.

Narayanan is the scientist who led a team to develop the ‘Vikas Engine' — a mainstay of all Indian rockets and help the country enter into the era of PSLV rockets. 

“I'm happy to note that the entire country is now anxiously waiting for this launch. That is something interesting," he told ANI.

He also praised the central government for its reforms -- it allowed the private companies to participate and leverage the potential the space sector has to offer.

“(Allowing private companies to participate in the space sector) would mean there will be larger potential for employment as well as some innovative ideas can get a good shape,” he said.

“See there are, I don't know the number, but they (government) say something like about 150-160 space startups are there. Not all of them may have been well-formed, but some of them are surely well-formed.”

“This is a high technology area. That is where I am saying that the success of this (mission) will prove your ability to tackle such high-technology areas. So there will be more people coming towards you.”

On asked how challenging such missions are, he said “No. Actually, I wouldn't say challenge. But I would say that it is reconfirming. See, last time also, we missed it, actually. You remember that whole thing happened and then you got into the orbit, moon, lunar orbit, and you failed to land soft landing. That is what you failed. And that is purely because of some software problem and of course, associated with some mechanical problems also. Now this time, they are all addressed.”

“I mean, there is no reason why it should fail. And then I'm already looking forward with respect to its success but anyway, for that, you should wait till August 23 or 24.”

The journey from Earth to the moon for the to-be-launched spacecraft is estimated to take around a month and the landing is expected on August 23.

If all goes well, Chandrayaan-3 will be the first spacecraft to land on Moon's South Pole, demonstrating India's technical prowess and bold spacefaring ambitions. Also, India will be the fourth country in the world next to the US, China, and Russia to send something to Moon.

During the Chandrayaan-2 mission, ISRO lost contact with the lander when it was just a notch away from the moon's surface.

Chandrayaan-3's development phase commenced in January 2020 with plans to launch it somewhere in 2021, but the Covid-19 pandemic caused delays in the development process.

The major discovery of the Chandrayaan-1 mission, launched in 2008, is the detection of water (H2O) and hydroxyl (OH) on the lunar surface. Data also revealed their enhanced abundance towards the polar region.

The primary science objective of the mission was to prepare a three-dimensional atlas of both the near and far sides of the Moon and to conduct chemical and mineralogical mapping of the entire lunar surface with high spatial resolution, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre under ISRO had said.

Moon serves as a repository of earth's past and a successful lunar mission by India will help in enhancing life on Earth and prepare to explore the rest of the solar system — and beyond.