The lessons learned from the failure of Chandrayaan-2 contributed to the success of India's third lunar mission, former space scientist with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Nambi Narayanan said, after the successful touchdown of the 'Vikram' lander on the lunar South Pole.
Speaking to ANI, Narayanan congratulated the scientists associated with the Chandrayaan-3 mission, saying, "Every failure of Chandrayaan-2 was addressed to. Let it be a satellite problem, stability problem or an additional requirement problem. All were addressed to and all were rectified."
"And the failure of Chandrayaan-2 was used for the success of Chandrayaan-3. Or we can say we used that failure in our favour. In that way, they (ISRO scientists) have clearly done a wonderful job. We were confident before the launch itself that it (Chandrayaan-3) would be a success. And so it turned out to be. Congratulations to all," he added.
The space scientist said the third lunar mission was a daunting one for ISRO, especially considering the budget, commitment to the country's space programme and the failure of Chandrayaan-2. Despite the challenges, the scientists involved with the project at ISRO knew that the core mission objectives were achievable, he noted.
"It is a great day for ISRO, India and mankind as well. What we have achieved, in a sense, is unbelievable. When I say unbelievable, I mean with the kind of budget that we have, with the kind of other commitments that we have and after a failure (of Chandrayaan-2), which had put us into great difficulty. Yet, we achieved the mission objectives. So in that sense, it is unbelievable. It is also believable because everyone at ISRO knew it was achievable and they achieved it," Narayanan told ANI.
After a 40-day journey into space, the Chandrayaan-3 lander, 'Vikram', touched down on the uncharted lunar South Pole on Wednesday evening, making India the first country to do so.
India also became only the fourth nation after the US, Russia and China to successfully conduct a lunar landing mission.
The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft put down the Vikram lander on the lunar surface, tilting to a horizontal position ahead of landing.
The spacecraft was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota on July 14.
A GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle was used for the launch of the spacecraft that was placed in the lunar orbit on August 5 and since then, it went through a series of orbital manoeuvres before zeroing in on the moon's surface.
