Former Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), G Madhavan Nair on Thursday expressed his confidence in the Chandrayaan-3 mission and said that it should succeed in all respects. The veteran space scientist highlighted that the mission is crucial so that India can cross a major milestone in space exploration.
In an interview with news agency PTI, Nair said the third lunar mission is an important milestone for ISRO and described the planned soft landing on the lunar surface as a very difficult and complex maneuver. During Nair’s six-year tenure as the chief, ISRO accomplished as many as 25 missions.
“This moment I can only say that this mission should succeed in all respects so that we will cross a major milestone in space exploration”, said Nair.
He further noted that the national space agency had made a number of simulations and strengthened the systems to resolve the problem faced during Chandrayaan-2 lander’s soft- landing, which was unsuccessful, nearly four years ago.
On the soft-landing which the ISRO planned to attempt on August 23 or 24, he said “It’s a very difficult maneuver, very very complex maneuver and we are doing it for the first time in an unknown territory and to that extent there is lot of anxiety, we have to wait and see.”
Additionally, Nair also gave out a word of caution ahead of the mega launch and said, “Normally nothing should go wrong. In this game, we can’t say. It’s a big event with so many sub-systems and components working in unison. Even if a minor glitch happens anywhere we can get into a problem, we really have to be cautious.”
“Right now, pre-launch preparations are going on. I hope they will look at all aspects carefully and don’t brush aside any anomaly if at all they come across,” he added.
(With PTI inputs)