Chandrayaan 3: 5th engine of the Lander to be dropped

No extra engine for Chandrayaan-3

Tuesday, 15th September 2020

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) while working on its Chandrayaan-3 project is devoting time to bring about a major change in the lander design and hopes to get success in its proposed lunar touchdown mission this time. This change of design has been planned to make corrections in all that which led to the failure of the Chandrayaan-2 lander in soft landing on the moon’s surface last year.

As per the researchers who are a part of this revolutionary space mission, the overseeing research committee has planned for a lander design change which will cause the lander to have only 4 engines this time and not 5. “It has been decided to drop the fifth engine, which was added last minute on Vikram (Chandrayaan-2’s lander). The lander for this mission will now have only four engines,” said one of the scientists.

Another scientist said that the research committee is also planning to bring about a minor change on the lander’s legs but the plan for this change is “yet to be approved”. Apart from this, “…it was decided to include the laser doppler velocimeter (LDV) for better measurement of speed during landing, and removal of the central engine,” the scientist said.

As per the TOI report submitted in the month of November 2019 several modifications were proposed for the Chandrayaan 3 and those modifications were but an indication of the many deficiencies that Chandrayaan 2 had. Among the proposed changes things like software program modifications, algorithm changes, LDV, Legs strengthening, improved energy as well as communication programs were all included. The plan to drop the 5th is but the latest addition to the list of the proposed changes. The fifth engine was thought to be indispensable in the past; i.e. in the case of Chandrayaan 2, as it was discovered at that time that this 5th engine could help in maintaining the stability of the lander as it moves closer to the moon’s floor. Generally when the landing takes place, severe dust storm may be triggered and that, in turn, may affect the lander’s stability. But, there were also many who expressed their opinion saying that 4 engines were just enough. ISRO however objected to this saying that the addition of the 5th engine is but a “necessity for a smooth landing.”

In this context, chairman of ISRO, Okay Sivan informed the TOI: “…Earlier analysis had estimated that the dust would cause trouble, but now our analysis has shown that dust won’t be a problem.”

Source: Times of India