What's biggest challenge in Chandrayaan-3's landing on Moon?

Space strategist P K Ghosh said on Sunday that one of the "biggest" challenges in the landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar surface is to get the spacecraft from a horizontal to a vertical position.

"One of the biggest things is that it has got to get the spacecraft from a horizontal position to a vertical position. That is difficult. All these aspects have to be looked into," P K Ghosh told ANI.

ISRO on Sunday said it has successfully reduced the orbit of Chandrayaan-3 mission's lander module, and it is now expected to touch down on the surface of the Moon at 1804 hours on August 23.

The space agency said the lander module would undergo internal checks ahead of the planned soft landing.

Explaining the process of deboosting, Ghosh said, "Deboosting or retro firing is a process to enable the spacecraft to reduce its speed. You must realise that it is travelling at a tremendous speed more than 6000 kilometres per hour and then it has got to reduce it to near zero, nearly 1 meter/second….."

Speaking in detail about the process, the space strategist said, "This is a process in which you are trying to get the spacecraft into a circular orbit and now it is almost circular. The perigee is just about 25 kilometres. This is the second of the deboosting, orbit-adjusting manoeuvres. Finally, on the 23rd you will see that it will start coming down."

According to ISRO, India's pursuit of space exploration will reach a remarkable milestone with the Chandrayaan-3 mission poised to achieve a soft landing on the surface of the Moon.

This achievement marks a significant step forward for Indian Science, Engineering, Technology, and Industry, symbolising our nation's progress in space exploration, it said.

This eagerly anticipated event will be broadcast live on August 23, starting from 17:27 Hrs IST on multiple platforms, including the ISRO Website, its YouTube channel, ISRO's Facebook page, and DD National TV channel.

"The soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 is a monumental moment that not only fuels curiosity but also sparks a passion for exploration within the minds of our youth," ISRO said.

Speaking on the failure of Russia's moon mission, Ghosh said that this shows that one should not take anything for granted in space exploration.

"It just goes on to show that you can never ever take anything for granted in space exploration. Any of the smallest things, if it goes wrong, then it can lead to a disaster. I feel sorry for them," he said.

Speaking about the delay in Luna 25 mission, Ghosh said, "The Luna 25 got delayed due to the Ukraine war. Then the European Space Agency pulled out. Finally, after about 47 years they have taken off Luna 25."

"Earlier they had said that they would land on 23rd August. Then I think they speeded it up and then it was 21st August. But something went wrong on Saturday in one of the orbiting manoeuvres. Russia or Soviet Union are pioneers in space exploration. This is most unfortunate," he added.

Russia's moon mission failed after its Luna-25 spacecraft spun out of control and smashed into the Moon on Sunday.