Chandrayaan-3 has a ‘failure-based design’, ISRO chief S Somanath explains

ISRO is set to launch Chandrayaan-3 this week as India attempts once again to become the 4th country to land spacecraft on the moon. The Chandrayaan-3 is slated to be launched from Sriharikota.

After the unsuccessful attempt with Chandrayaan-2, ISRO has decided to go ahead with a “failure-based design” instead of “success-based design” for Chandrayaan-3. ISRO Chairman chief S Somanath gave details about the approach, “In nutshell if you tell what was the problem in Chandrayaan-2, it is simple to say that the ability to handle parameter variation or dispersion was very limited.”

“So, what we did this time is simply expand it further. Look at what are the things that can go wrong. So, instead of success-based design in Chandrayaan-2, we are doing a failure-based design in Chandrayaan-3. What all can fail, and how to protect it - this is the approach that we have taken…,” Somanath explained.

Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission of Chandrayaan-2. It aims to demonstrate India's capability in soft landing and roving on the Lunar surface.

“After the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the surface of the Moon, the rover, which has six wheels, will come out and is expected to work for 14 days on the Moon. With the support of multiple cameras on the rover, we will be able to receive images," an official release said. 

(Inputs from ANI)