'It's a milestone', says ISRO ex-chief K Sivan as Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander separates from propulsion module

Soon after the Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander successfully separated from the propulsion module, former ISRO Chairman K Sivan said that the space agency has achieved a milestone as the mission was very difficult.  

"It's a very complex activity and I'm happy that it happened very smoothly. It's a milestone": Former ISRO chief K Sivan on #Chandrayaan3's lander Vikram's separation from Propulsion Module;

Take a look at visual representation of how lander separates from the Propulsion Module… pic.twitter.com/TbJXljWOBv

— News18 (@CNNnews18) August 17, 2023

“We are happy this happened so smoothly. It’s a milestone for ISRO. Now, we will have new findings from the moon. It’s a job done very well without any flaws," he said while speaking to CNN-News18.

"I'm confident that it will be a successful soft landing," says Space strategist PK Ghosh as #Chandrayaan3 inches closer to the Moon after lander's successful separation from the Propulsion Module;

News18's @Srish__T on why it's important to explore Moon's south pole… pic.twitter.com/P2h8cLoc4h

— News18 (@CNNnews18) August 17, 2023

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ISRO was successful in separating the Chandrayaan-3’s lander module, the Vikram from the spacecraft’s propulsion module. The separation took place on August 17 at around 1:30 PM. To commemorate this, the team handling Chandrayaan-3 took to X and posted – The Vikram Lander has been positioned about 30-100 kilometres away from its intended landing position. Following the separation, the lander has now entered its “deboost” phase.

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:

‘Thanks for the ride, mate! 👋’
said the Lander Module (LM).

LM is successfully separated from the Propulsion Module (PM)

LM is set to descend to a slightly lower orbit upon a deboosting planned for tomorrow around 1600 Hrs., IST.

Now, 🇮🇳 has3⃣ 🛰️🛰️🛰️… pic.twitter.com/rJKkPSr6Ct

— ISRO (@isro) August 17, 2023

The idea is that the Vikram lander will now slowly start accelerating in a direction opposite the Moon’s gravitational pull so that the lander’s velocity gradually decreases, as it approaches the lunar surface. Think of this manoeuvre as slowly tapping the brakes of your car or bike to slow it down. ISRO will carry out the first major deboosting tomorrow, at 4:00 PM The Vikram lander is now at a junction where the closest point on the moon, known as Peruline, will be 30 kilometres away, and its farthest point, the Apolune, will be about 100 kilometres from the Moon. Following its separation from the lander module, Vikram-3 is scheduled to perform a soft landing on the south pole of the Moon, on August 23. Following its landing, ISRO will soon get the Pragyan rover working its margin on the moon. After its launch on July 14, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft entered its lunar orbit on August 5. ISRO then performed a series of orbit reduction manoeuvres to slowly trim Chandrayaan-3’s orbit and nudge the spacecraft into position above the Moon’s poles. In a choreographed sequence, these orbit-reducing manoeuvres took place on August 6, 9, 14, and 16. Adding to the excitement, K Sivan, the former head of ISRO who led the Chandrayaan-2 mission, expressed his upbeat outlook. He voiced his optimism regarding Chandrayaan-3’s anticipated landing on the Moon’s surface on August 23. With an air of anticipation, Sivan highlighted the significance of this moment, stating that August 23 holds the promise of a remarkable achievement. K Sivan acknowledged that Chandrayaan-2 sailed through similar phases with success, yet encountered a challenge during the landing’s second phase, when it was in the terror zone. The zone of terror or the terror zone is usually the very last leg of the landing of any space rocket. There are multiple things that can go wrong in during this phase. For the Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3, the last 15 minutes before the Vikram lander touches down, is usually considered the zone of terror. Everything from this mark on is mission critical – the timing of activating and deactivating the boosters, the force the boosters exert, any variations in wind, or fuel weight of the lander – all these things come into play Shedding light on the intricacies of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, ISRO’s current chief, S Somanath, provided insights into its design philosophy. He noted that, unlike its predecessor, Chandrayaan-3 is crafted with a failure-based design approach rather than one driven solely by success. Somanath explained that the focus is on addressing potential deviations or faults. This strategy prioritizes understanding what could possibly go awry and formulating safeguards to counter those scenarios. “The ability to handle parameter variation or dispersion was very limited in Chandrayaan-2. So, instead of a success-based design, we are doing a failure-based design in Chandrayaan-3. What all can fail, and how to protect it — this is the approach that we have taken,” Somanath told PTI.