INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
soft-landed on Moon to propel India into an elite club of nations
It is now the first to land a probe in the polar region of the Moon and only the fourth country to land anywhere on the lunar surface
soft-landing.And to do this, Vikram was better prepared to overcome challenges of landing this time
Learning from this, Isro has implemented several improvements in Chandrayaan-3 to ensure success
And among several changes introduced in Chandrayaan-3, after its predecessor Chandrayaan-2 failed to soft-land on Moon in September 2019,
significant are those introduced in Vikram, the lander
Stronger legsVikram will have stronger legs than in its previous avatar to enable withstanding landing at greater velocities than
Basically, what were the deficiencies we were trying to overcome? One is the lander legs, which we expected could have withstood a higher
velocity [during Chandrayaan-2]
So how much can we increase the velocity tolerance in the available structure? We have enhanced the landing velocity to 3m/second from
And it is good that the tolerance will be for 3m/second, which means in case the best situation is not there, the lander will still do its
look at the lunar terrain
And through laser source sounding, we will be able to get components of three velocity vectors
engine - softwareIsro has also improved the software to have more tolerance to failures like engine disruptions, thrust disruptions, sensor
Also, given its weight now, we have to necessarily fire a minimum of two engines to do the landing, and cannot land with a single engine
Chandrayaan-3 lunar landingHe added that the space agency has extended solar panels and more panel area to generate power
Vikram will be able to generate power even if it lands in a different orientation and is not facing the Sun
The whole of the last two years went for testing and not changes
This is in terms of autonomous flights, helicopter flights, crane-mode landing simulation tests, drop tests, software simulation testbeds
lander makes successful soft-landing on Moon
