Explained: Why did Chandrayaan 2 fail? Can these mistakes be repeated in ISRO’s Chandrayaan 3?

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to launch another edition of India’s moon mission – Chandrayaan 3 – years after the failure of Chandrayaan 2, which had lost all contact with the organization after a technical glitch.

All the preparatory tests of Chandrayaan 3 have gone successfully and it is now set to be launched on July 14 and is expected to be a success. According to the space agency, all scientists have worked hard not to repeat the errors of Chandrayaan 2 this time around.

On September 7, 2019, the Chandrayaan 2 mission was launched by ISRO but the hearts of 1.3 billion people broke when their screens froze, and eventually, the space agency lost all contact with the Vikram lander which was expected to make contact with the moon.

Chandrayaan 2’s Vikram lander tilted 410 degrees instead of the planned 55 degrees and eventually was stipulated to land in an autonomous mode on the moon. ISRO lost contact with Vikram when it was just 400 meters away from the landing surface, according to the agency.

The objective of the Chandrayaan 2 moon mission was to make a soft landing on the lunar surface, and had it been successful, India would have been the fourth country to achieve this feat, after the United States, China, and Russia.

What went wrong on Chandrayaan 2 mission?

When Chandrayaan 2’s Vikram lander tilted from its set trajectory, the scientists of ISRO could do nothing but be silent spectators. The velocity of the Vikram lander was expected to slow down from 6000 kmph to 0 kmph in four phases, but ISRO lost contact with the lander ahead of its touchdown on the lunar surface.

The reason behind losing contact with the lander has been attributed to a software glitch. Due to the change in trajectory and the lack of speed reduction, the Vikram lander, along with the moon rover Pragyan, were destroyed when they crash-landed on the moon.

How is Chandrayaan 3 different from Chandrayaan 2?

Unlike Chandrayaan 2, the new moon mission spacecraft will not be carrying a rover aboard. Further, the Chandrayaan 3 spacecraft will carry a payload called Spectro-polarimetry of HAbitable Planet Earth (SHAPE), which the previous mission did not have.

SHAPE will study the spectral and polarimetric measurements of Earth from lunar orbit, which means that there are fewer chances of Chandrayaan 3 losing contact with ISRO and changing its trajectory, unlike the previous mission to the moon.

READ | Explained: Chandrayaan-3 launch date revealed; how is it different from Chandrayaan 1 and 2?