EXCLUSIVE: Ex-ISRO Chief K Sivan Speaks About Potential Success Rate Of Chandrayaan-3, Effect Of Luna 25 Crash

Ex-ISRO Chief K. Sivan exclusively speaks to india.com and discusses the objective and challenges of Chandrayaan 3, the lessons that have been learnt from the unsuccessful Chandrayaan 2 Mission and the potential success rate of this lunar mission among other things.

New Delhi: Chandrayaan 3, the third and the most recent lunar mission under the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), is expected to make a soft landing on the moon on August 23, 2023 at about 6:04 PM. At the onset of the landing of Chandrayaan 3, ex-ISRO Chief K Sivan speaks exclusively to India.com. Dr. Kailasavadivoo Sivan, an Indian space scientist, served as the Secretary of Department of Space, Chairman of the Space Commission and Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation from January 2018 to January 2022.

Specialised in aerospace engineering, space transportation systems engineering, launch vehicle and mission design, control and guidance design and mission simulation software design, mission synthesis, simulation, analysis and validation of flight systems, Dr. K Sivan was the scientist under whose leadership ISRO launched Chandrayaan 2, the second mission to moon, of which Vikram lander and Pragyan rover crashed; the working on Chandrayaan 3 was also started under the leadership of K Sivan.

In an exclusive conversation with Ananya Srivastava of India.com, K Sivan speaks about the potential success rate of the Chandrayaan 3, impact of the Luna 25 crash on our mission, reason for landing of the spacecraft on the South Pole region of the moon and the difference this mission will make once successful. Excerpts from the conversation..

Chandrayaan 3 has been a topic of discussion across the country and rightly so. If you could explain in layman’s language, ISRO’s lunar mission to our readers who do not necessarily understand the technicalities.

The first and the main objective of the Chandrayaan 3 Mission is to land the spacecraft on the surface of the moon. After landing on the moon, the second objective is to use instruments to carry out experiments. These experiments aim at finding data and sending it to earth so that the scientists on earth can go through the data, analyse it and use the science to find by Chandrayaan 3, about water molecules on the moon or something new, that they can explore and research on.

Chandrayaan 3 is expected to land on the moon in less than two days. What is the potential success rate of the mission and keeping in mind the uncertainty, is there a possibility of a crash?

Any mission that we begin, we go ahead with full confidence only but in the space system, there is always some uncertainty. The unknown, something that has not happened before on the ground, may happen during the flight and which is without our knowledge. But despite this uncertainty, we are always going ahead with complete confidence when we are planning a mission, not only during Chandrayaan but in any mission of the space organisation.

Chandrayaan 3 is a follow-on mission of the Chandrayaan 2 whose lander unfortunately crashed before landing. What precautions have been taken from the past experience and is the landing process any different this time?

The landing process for Chandrayaan 3 is same as that of Chandrayaan 2 but we have learnt our lessons and during this mission, some corrective measures have been taken in the Chandrayaan 3- wherever the design margins are less, they have been enhanced and wherever possible, redundancy is provided. In case some system is failing, there are alternate systems so that the mission is still successful. All these regulations have been made after seeing and learning from the experiences of the last lunar mission.

India and Russia, both the countries were aiming for a soft landing on the moon but Luna 25 crashed? Does it make any difference to our country’s lunar mission and landing?

No. The crash of Russia’s lunar mission Luna 25 does not have any effect or impact on our Chandrayaan 3 mission. Our systems are very different from them and our way of doing things is also very different. And till now we are able to go through the thing as expected, so we are hoping that the landing on August 23rd will also be as expected.

The period before the landing is considered most crucial. Can you explain to us why?

In a mission, there are many systems involved and the interior system in the space might be working initially but that does not mean that it will also work after some time. So this type of unfortunate accidents can always happen but we are hoping that it will work, it is working now and it will continue to work. This is what we believe and we have confidence in our mission.

The landing is to happen on the South Pole region of the Moon where till now, no other country has been able to land. Why is this area chosen for the landing and what are the challenges?

This place, the South Pole region of the moon is a shadowed region, also the terrain is not very smooth. And because of this shadowed region, we are expecting that something new will be there, something that we have not explored. This is why we are aiming at landing the Chandrayaan 3 on the South Pole region of the moon. This region is referred to as ‘mysterious’ because being in the shadow region, scientists have not explored the area, it is unknown to them and something new which has not been discovered till now, it may be there. That is what we are thinking and that is what is important.

Lastly, we are all wishing for Chandrayaan 3 to be a success but a very common question that has come up, is the difference that this mission will make and what is the information that we might exclusively be able to extract through the lunar mission?

The first point that by successfully completing the Chandrayaan 3 Mission, India will be able to acquire a new technology and we will also be one among the four countries of the world who would be successful in doing a soft landing on the moon. Secondly, with this mission, we are exploring the unexplored area and this may be very beneficial for the scientists in India as well as the scientists in the world. About the questions regarding presence of water on moon and the moon soil, we need to wait for the scientific investigations to be completed and then see if something new is figured out. Now, we cannot say anything on that.